Directions what to write to Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
He is commaunded to vvrite to the Churches of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicia: recalling them that erre to penance by threatening, but praising the rest, and promising revvard to him that ouercommeth: 15 detesting also the cold indifferent Christian. 20 He saith that God knocketh at the doore of mens hartes by offering his grace, for to enter in to him that vvil open vnto him by consent of free vvil.
1And to the angel of the church of Sardis write: These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast the name of being alive. And thou art dead.Ed all'Angelo della Chiesa di Sardi scrivi: così dice quegli, che ha i sette Spiriti di Dio, e le sette stelle: mi sono note le opere tue, e come hai nome di vivo, e se' morto.ANd to the Angel of the Church of Sardis, write, Thus saith he that hath the seuē Spirites of God, and the seuen starres, I know thy vvorkes, that thou hast the name that thou liuest, and thou art dead.Et angelo ecclesiæ Sardis scribe: Hæc dicit qui habet septem spiritus Dei, et septem stellas: Scio opera tua, quia nomen habes quod vivas, et mortuus es. 2Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die. For I find not thy works full before my God.Sii vigilante, e ristora il resto, che stavano per morire. Imperocché non ho trovato le opere tue piene dinanzi al mio Dio.Be vigilant, and confirme the rest of the things vvhich vvere to die. For I finde not thy vvorkes ful before my God.Esto vigilans, et confirma cetera, quæ moritura erant. Non enim invenio opera tua plena coram Deo meo. 3Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast received and heard: and observe and do penance: If then thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief: and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come to thee.Abbi adunque in memoria quel, che ricevesti, e udisti, ed osservalo, e fa' penitenza. Che se non veglierai, verrò a te come un ladro, né saprai, in qual ora verrò a te.Haue in minde therfore in vvhat maner thou hast receiued and heard: and keepe, and doe penance. If therfore thou vvatch not, I vvil come to thee as a theefe, & thou shalt not knovv vvhat houre I vvil come to thee.In mente ergo habe qualiter acceperis, et audieris, et serva, et pœnitentiam age. Si ergo non vigilaveris, veniam ad te tamquam fur et nescies qua hora veniam ad te. 4But thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments: and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy.Hai però in Sardi alcune poche persone, le quali non hanno macchiate le vesti loro: e verranno con me vestiti di bianco, perché ne sono degni.But thou hast a fevv names in Sardis, vvhich haue not defiled their garments: and they shal vvalke vvith me in vvhites, because they are vvorthy.Sed habes pauca nomina in Sardis qui non inquinaverunt vestimenta sua: et ambulabunt mecum in albis, quia digni sunt.
5He that shall overcome shall thus be clothed in white garments: and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. And I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.Chi sarà vincitore sarà così rivestito di bianche vesti, né cancellerò il nome di lui dal libro della vita, e confesserò il nome di lui dinanzi al Padre mio, e dinanzi a' suoi Angeli.He that shal ouercome, shal thus be vested in vvhite garmentes, and I vvil not put his name out of the booke of life, and I vvil confesse his name before my father, and before his Angels.Qui vicerit, sic vestietur vestimentis albis, et non delebo nomen ejus de libro vitæ, et confitebor nomen ejus coram Patre meo, et coram angelis ejus. 6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.Chi ha orecchio, oda quello, che dica lo Spirito alle Chiese.He that hath an eare, let him heare vvhat the Spirit saieth to the Churches.Qui habet aurem, audiat quid Spiritus dicat ecclesiis. 7And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write: These things saith the Holy One and the true one, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, shutteth and no man openeth:Ed all'Angelo della Chiesa di Filadelfia scrivi: così dice il santo, e il verace, che ha la chiave di David: che apre, e nissuno chiude, che chiude, e nissuno apre:And to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia vvrite, Thus saith the Holy one and the True one, he that hath the key of Dauid: he that openeth, and no man shutteth: shutteth, and no man openeth.Et angelo Philadelphiæ ecclesiæ scribe: Hæc dicit Sanctus et Verus, qui habet clavem David: qui aperit, et nemo claudit: claudit, et nemo aperit: 8I know thy works. Behold, I have given before thee a door opened, which no man can shut: because thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name.Mi sono note le opere tue. Ecco, che io ti ho messo davanti una porta aperta, la quale nissuno può chiudere: perché hai poco di virtù, ed hai osservata la mia parola, e non hai negato il mio nome.I know thy vvorkes. Behold I haue giuen before thee a doore opened vvhich no man can shut: because thou hast a litle povver, and hast kept my vvord, and hast not denied my name.Scio opera tua. Ecce dedi coram te ostium apertum, quod nemo potest claudere: quia modicam habes virtutem, et servasti verbum meum, et non negasti nomen meum. 9Behold, I will bring of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and adore before thy feet. And they shall know that I have loved thee.Ecco, che io darò della sinagoga di satana quei, che dicono d'esser Giudei, e noi sono, ma dicono il falso: ecco, dir io farò sì, che vengano, e s'incurvino dinanzi a' tuoi piedi: e conosceranno, come io ti ho amato.Behold I vvil giue of the synagogue of Satan, vvhich say they be Ievves, and are not, but doe lie. Behold I vvil make them come and adore before thy feete and they shal knovv that I haue loued thee.Ecce dabo de synagoga Satanæ, qui dicunt se Judæos esse, et non sunt, sed mentiuntur: ecce faciam illos ut veniant, et adorent ante pedes tuos: et scient quia ego dilexi te,
10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth.Dappoiché hai osservato il precetto della mia pazienza, io ancora ti salverò dall'ora della tentazione, la quale sta per sopravvenire a tutto il mondo, per provare gli abitatori della terra.because thou hast kept the vvord of my patience, and I vvil keepe thee from the houre of tentation, vvhich shal come vpon the vvhole vvorld to tempt the inhabitants on the earth.quoniam servasti verbum patientiæ meæ, et ego servabo te ab hora tentationis, quæ ventura est in orbem universum tentare habitantes in terra. 11Behold, I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.Ecco, che io vengo speditamente: conserva quello, che hai, affinchè nissuno prenda la tua corona.Behold I come quickely: hold that vvhich thou hast, that no man take thy crovvne.Ecce venio cito: tene quod habes, ut nemo accipiat coronam tuam. 12He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God: and he shall go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my new name.Chi sarà vincitore, farollo colonna del tempio del mio Dio, e non ne uscirà più fuora: sopra di lui scriverò il nome del mio Dio, e il nome della città del mio Dio (della nuova Gerusalemme, la qual discende dal cielo dal mio Dio) il nuovo mio nome.He that shal ouercome, I vvil make him a piller in the temple of my God: and he shal goe out no more: and I vvil vvrite vpon him the name of my God, and the name of the citie of my God, nevv Hierusalem vvhich descendeth out of heauen from my God, and my nevv name.Qui vicerit, faciam illum columnam in templo Dei mei, et foras non egredietur amplius: et scribam super eum nomen Dei mei, et nomen civitatis Dei mei novæ Jerusalem, quæ descendit de cælo a Deo meo, et nomen meum novum. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.E chi ha orecchio, oda quel, che lo Spirito dica alle Chiese.He that hath an eare, let him heare vvhat the Spirit saith to the Churches.Qui habet aurem, audiat quid Spiritus dicat ecclesiis. 14And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God:Ed all'Angelo della Chiesa di Laodicca scrivi: così dice l'amen, il testimone fedele, e verace, il principio delle cose da Dio create.And to the Angel of the Church of Laodicia vvrite, Thus saith Amen, the faithful and true vvitnesse, vvhich is the beginning of the creature of God.Et angelo Laodiciæ ecclesiæ scribe: Hæc dicit: Amen, testis fidelis et verus, qui est principium creaturæ Dei.
15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot.Mi sono note le opere tue: come non sei né freddo, né caloroso: di grazia fossi tu o freddo, o caloroso:I knovv thy vvorkes, that thou art neither colde, nor hote. I vvould thou vvere colde, or hote.Scio opera tua: quia neque frigidus es, neque calidus: utinam frigidus esses, aut calidus: 16But because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.Ma perché sei tiepido, e né freddo, né caloroso, comincerò a vomitarti dalla mia bocca.But because thou art lukevvarme, and neither cold nor hote, I vvil begin to vomite thee out of my mouth.sed quia tepidus es, et nec frigidus, nec calidus, incipiam te evomere ex ore meo: 17Because thou sayest: I am rich and made wealthy and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.Imperocché vai dicendo: son ricco, e dovizioso, e non mi manca niente: e non sai, che tu sei meschino, e miserabile, e povero, e cieco, e ignudo.Because thou saiest, That I am riche, and enriched, and lacke nothing: and knovvest not that thou art a miser, and miserable, and poore, and blinde, and naked.quia dicis: Quod dives sum, et locupletatus, et nullius egeo: et nescis quia tu es miser, et miserabilis, et pauper, et cæcus, et nudus. 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold, fire tried, that thou mayest be made rich and mayest be clothed in white garments: and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear. And anoint thy eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.Ti consiglio a comperare da me l'oro passato, e provato nel fuoco, onde ti facci ricco, ed a rivestirti delle vesti bianche, affinchè non comparisca la vergogna della tua nudità, e ungi gli occhi tuoi con unguento per vederci.I counsel thee to bye of me gold fire-tried, that thou maiest be made riche: and maiest be clothed in vvhite garmentes, that the confusion of thy nakednes appeare not: and vvith eie salue anoint thine eies, that thou maiest see.Suadeo tibi emere a me aurum ignitum probatum, ut locuples fias, et vestimentis albis induaris, et non appareat confusio nuditatis tuæ, et collyrio inunge oculos tuos ut videas. 19Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore and do penance.Io quegli, che amo, li riprendo, e ti gastigo. Abbi adunque zelo, e fa penitenza.I, vvhom I loue, do rebuke and chastise. Be zelous therfore and doe penance.Ego quos amo, arguo, et castigo. Æmulare ergo, et pœnitentiam age. 20Behold, I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him: and he with me.Ecco, che io sto alla porta, e picchio: chi udirà la mia voce, e aprirammi la porta, entrerò da lui, e cenerò con lui, ed egli con me.Behold I stand at the doore and knocke. if any man shal heare my voice, and open the gate, I vvil enter in to him, and vvil suppe vvith him, and he vvith me.Ecce sto ad ostium, et pulso: si quis audierit vocem meam, et aperuerit mihi januam, intrabo ad illum, et cœnabo cum illo, et ipse mecum.
21To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome and am set down with my Father in his throne.Chi sarà vincitore, darogli di sedere con me nel mio trono: come io ancora fui vincitore, e sedei col Padre mio nel suo trono.He that shal ouercome, I vvil giue vnto him to sitte vvith me in my throne: as I also haue ouercome, and haue sitten vvith my father in his throne.Qui vicerit, dabo ei sedere mecum in throno meo: sicut et ego vici, et sedi cum Patre meo in throno ejus. 22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.Chi ha orecchio, oda quel, che lo Spirito dica alle Chiese.He that hath an eare, let him heare vvhat the Spirit saith to the Churches.Qui habet aurem, audiat quid Spiritus dicat ecclesiis.
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Witham
To the Angel of the church of Sardis. He begins with a severe reprehension, thou hast the name of being alive, and thou art dead, which we may understand of the greatest part of them, and of being dead by the worst of deaths, which is that of sin. (Witham)
Calmet
In the style of the sacred writers, to live, is to be in the state of grace, and to bring forth good works; as, to be dead, is to live in sin, and in the neglect of Christian duties. (Calmet)
Here we see that the opinion of men is no advantage to us, when our internal dispositions are not correspondent to our external appearance. For what we are in thy sight, O Lord, so much we are, and no more, says St. Augustine.
Witham
The bishop is charged with this fault, that he did not watch and take care of his flock. He is admonished to repent, and to strengthen those that were not dead, but ready to die.[Ver. 2. Et ceterae quae moritura erant, ta loipa a mellei apothanein, meaning persons, not things.] (Witham)
Calmet
God does not seek to surprise us and lay snares for us. But when he tells us that he will come like a thief, it is only to admonish us not to slumber. Had he wished to take us unawares, he never would have admonished us beforehand. (Calmet)
But thou hast a few names, etc. That is, a few persons not yet defiled, neither as to their consciences, souls, nor bodies.
Witham
They shall walk with me in white apparel, etc. It is a new way of expressing the happiness of heaven. (Witham)
Calmet
White is the color of joy, festivity, and triumph. The Angels always appeared clothed in white. (Calmet)
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Witham
To the Angel of the church of Philadelphia. There were several towns of this name; here is understood that which was near Sardis, in Lydia. Here is no more than an admonition to persevere, to hold that which thou hast. Christ takes the title of the Holy One, and True One, who hath the key of David; that is being the son of David, and the promised Messias, hath supreme power in the Church: who opens the gate of salvation, and no one shuts it against his elect. (Witham)
Calmet
By the key in this place may be understood either the key of the Church, or of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ has both, he opens and shuts the heavens by his infinite power. But in the Church on earth he has entrusted this key (his power) to his apostles and ministers; whatever is bound or loosened by them is ratified by him in the kingdom of his glory. (Calmet)
Witham
I have set before thee a door open, by giving thee graces to save thee, which no one shall be able to hinder, because thou hast of thyself little power or strength,[Ver. 8. Virtutem, dunamin, strength.] and hast kept my word, and not denied the faith. (Witham)
I have sent you to preach, and have given my blessing to your labours. You shall, notwithstanding all your adversaries, eventually succeed. St. Paul makes use of the same manner of expression, 1 Corinthians xvi., I see a great door is open to me, and at the same time many adversaries; and again, 2 Corinthians 2:and Colossians iv., On account of your little strength, your want of talents, eloquence, supernatural gifts, etc. I have not exposed you to great trials. Thus does the Almighty always proportion the trials he sends, and the temptations he permits in his servants, to the graces and strength he has given them.
Calmet
Those who were neither Jews nor Christians, shall come and abjure at your feet their former errors, and shall evidently perceive that you are strengthened by me. (Calmet)
Witham
Christ also promises that he will make the false abandoned Jews subject to the bishop and his Church, and to own them to be the beloved and chosen people. God promises to preserve them in the hour or time of temptation and persecutions, which should happen to all the inhabitants of the earth. (Witham)
He here advertises him of the persecution which was about to take place, and by which he would try the fidelity of his servants. In ver. 12., he relates the triumph and everlasting beatitude of the martyrs.
He that overcomes, I will make him a pillar, etc. so as to stand firm against his enemies, and to be secure of his endless happiness.
I will write upon him the name of my God, a subscribed citizen of the celestial Jerusalem, with the new name of Jesus, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind. He alludes to the custom of writing names upon pillars, palaces, etc.
Witham
From the words my God, the Socinians pretend that Christ is not the true God, as we may find in the disputes which Servetus had with Calvin. Calvin answered the Socinians, as all Catholics do, that Christ was both God and man: this and divers things were spoken of Christ as he was man, but that many things in the Scriptures could not apply to him, unless he was also truly God. And by such places is clearly confuted the blasphemy and error of the Arians and Socinians. The argument concludes in the principles of the Catholics, who allow the authority of the Church in expounding the sense of the Scriptures; but the Calvinists, and all other pretended reformers, having shaken off that authority, and having allowed that the holy Scriptures are to be interpreted according to every man's private judgment or spirit, this set Calvin and Servetus, every Calvinist and Socinians, upon the same level. (Witham)
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The seventh and last letter is to the Angel of the Church of Laodicia. Christ here takes the title of the Amen,[Ver. 14. Haec dicit Amen; tade legei o Amen. Ille qui est Amen.] as if he said, I am the Truth.
The beginning of the creation, or of the creatures of God, to which is added in the first chapter, the beginning and the end.
Thou art neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm. A dreadful reprehension, whatever exposition we follow. According to the common interpretation, by the cold are meant those who are guilty of great sins; by the hot, such as are zealous and fervent in piety and the service of God; by the lukewarm or tepid, they who are slothful, negligent, indolent, as to what regards Christian perfection, the practice of virtue, and an exact observance of what regards the service of God. On this account they are many times guilty in the sight of God of great sins, they forfeit the favour and grace of God, fancying themselves good enough and safe, because they live as others commonly do, and are not guilty of many scandalous and shameful crimes, to which they see others addicted.
Witham
I would thou wert either cold or hot. This is not an absolute wish, because the condition of the cold is certainly worse in itself; but it is to be taken with regard to the different consequences, which oftentimes attend these two states, and to signify to us that the lukewarm may be farther from a true conversion, inasmuch as they are less sensible of the dangers to which they remain exposed, than such as commit greater sins. Their careless indevotion becomes habitual to them, they live and die with a heart divided betwixt God and the world; whereas greater and more shameful sinners are not without an abhorrence of such vices which they commit; a fear of punishment, of hell and damnation, strikes them by the mercies of God offered even to sinners, and makes them enter into themselves like the prodigal son; they detest their past lives, and by the assistance of God's graces become both fervent and constant in the duties of a Christian life. (Witham)
Calmet
Tepidity in a Christian life, and in the service of God, is oftentimes more dangerous than absolute wickedness. The open sinner is easily made sensible of his danger; he experiences the stings and reproaches of conscience, whilst the tepid Christian lives without remorse, fear, or apprehension, and listens not to those who wish to shew him the danger of his situation. I dare venture to affirm, says St. Augustine, that to fall into some public and manifest sin would be of advantage to the proud, that so those who by their self-complacency had so often fallen before, may now become displeased with themselves and humble. (Calmet)
To the lukewarm it is said, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth; that is if thou continue in that state, I will permit thee to run on and be lost in thy sins. Thou blindly sayest within thyself, I am rich, etc. A false conscience generally attends a lukewarm soul and those who serve God by halves; they flatter themselves that all goes well enough with them, when they see they are not so vicious, as many others: but here the spirit of God, who penetrates the secret folds and windings of slothful souls, admonisheth them of their dangerous mistakes, that they are wretched, poor, blind, and naked, when God, by his grace, does not inhabit their souls, though they may have millions of gold and silver in this world. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, the love of God purified by trials and troubles in this life, to recover thy lost innocence, to be clothed with the habit of grace, to anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, by a serious reflection on what regards thy eternal salvation.
I chastise those whom I love. He concludes all the former admonitions by telling them: first, that to be under trials and troubles, is a mark of God's favour and his paternal care; secondly, to hearken to the voice of God, when he knocks at the door of their heart; and thirdly, he promises them the reward of eternal happiness---he that overcomes, shall sit with me on my throne: though this does not imply an equality of happiness, not even to all the saints, much less with God himself, but only that the elect shall be in the throne as it were of heaven, and partakers of heavenly happiness according to their past good works.
Witham
I should not here mention the wild and ridiculous fancies of one Mr. Brightman, when he pretends to expound to all men these letters to the seven bishops of Asia[Asia Minor], were it not to shew how the obscure predictions of St. John's revelation have been turned and abused by the loose interpretations of some of the late reformers, as may be seen more at large, when we mention their arbitrary fancies about the whore of Babylon and the popish antichrist. I shall here with Dr. Hammond, give the reader a taste of such licentious expositions of the divine oracles. The Calvinist, Mr. Brightman, pretended he had his expositions by divine inspirations, and so gave his commentary the title of Revelation of the Revelation. I shall quote his words out of Dr. Hammond. "Mr. Brightman assures his readers, that by the churches of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicia, were meant Germany, France, and Britain. He says a most heavy trial was now suddenly to invade the Christian world....that the three said churches were most favourably admonished of this tempest by the epistles written to them by name, nomination....that he found and understood this to be so by divine inspiration, from the inscriptions of these letters, and so should be guilty of a sin against the Divine Majesty, if he concealed them." Not to tire the reader with his fancies about Ephesus and Pergamus, which may be seen in Dr. Hammond, Rev. 2:13., "on those words, in those days was Antipas, etc. Mr. Brightman has this wanton fancy on the name Antipas, that it doth denote that the martyrs of his time (which was after Luther) should be antipapae, or antipopes;" that is adversaries to the popes and popery. Dr. Hammond (p. 928) gives us Mr. Brightman's conceit on the name Thyatira, which must be taken for the same as Thygatheira, signifying a young daughter, and so denotes the growth of piety in the Church from the year 1300, from Wycliffe's time to 1520, that is, till it came to perfection in Luther's days. Page 932. note a, "Sardis, according to Mr. Brightman," says Dr. Hammond, "is the first reformed church in the antitype, to wit, that of Germany, which began at Wittenburg, by Luther, in the year 1517. And the proof is, that Sardis is more to the south than Thyatira, and so must have more of truth in it; or, because there is no mention made of Balaam and Jezabel, which he resolved must signify the doctrines of Christian Rome, the absence of which must signify a breaking off from the Romish communion; or, that she (the German Church) had a name to be living, but was dead, by the doctrine of consubstantiation among the Lutherans, even after the reformation. This," says Dr. Hammond, "were a strange way of interpreting dreams, which no oneirocritic would allow, but a much stranger of explaining prophecies." Page 933, "Philadelphia, says Mr. Brightman, must needs be the Helvetian, Swedish, Genevan, French, Dutch, and Scotch reformed Churches. No reason again for it, but that the city of Philadelphia was yet farther south than Sardis, and so must needs signify more increase of reformation; 2. that the name of Jezabel was not in it; 3. that the word Philadelphia, signifying brotherly love, cannot be applied to any but this pattern of all piety (to which Mr. Brightman had so much kindness) the Church of Helvetia and Geneva. And the reformed Church of England must be that of Laodicia,....because episcopacy was here retained, and so a mixture of cold with that of heat, and consequently is the lukewarm Church that is found fault with." O the profound interpretations and bright inventions of Mr. Brightman! (Witham)
3:14
The Amen, ... that is, the true one, the Truth itself; the Word and Son of God. The beginning ... that is, the principle, the source, and the efficient cause of the whole creation.
3:3
Concordance 1 Thes. 5, 2. 2 Pet. 3, 10.
Concordance Apo. 16, 15.
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Such as haue not cōmitted deadly sinne after baptisme.
Note that there is in mā a vvorthinesse of the ioyes of heauen, by holy life. & this is a cōmō speache in holy Scripture, that man is worthy of God, of heauē, of saluatiō.
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5. He that shal ouercome.] In al these speaches to diuers Bishops and their Churches, Doing vvel in respect of revvard. he continually encourageth them to constancie in faith and good life, by setting before their eies the revvard of the next life. And yet the Caluinists vvould haue no man do good in respect of such revvard.
3:7
Concordance Esa. 22, 22.
3:9
9. Adore before thy feete.] You see this vvord of adoration is in Scriptures vsed for vvorship of creatures also, Adoration of creatures, called Dulia. and that to fall before the feete of holy men or Angels for duety and reuerence, is not idolatrie, except the proper honour due to God, be giuen vnto them. See the Annotations vpō the 19 & 22 Chapter concerning the Apostles prostration before the Angel. And the Aduersaries euasion, saying that the adoration vvas of God onely: and that, before the feete of the partie, signifieth nothing els but, in his presence, is false and against the phrase of Scriptures. as 4 Reg. 4. vvhere the Sunamite adored Elisaeus, falling dovvne before his feete. and 4 Reg. 2. the sonnes of the Prophets adored him in the same sort. and here this adoration can not be meant but of the Bishop or Angel of Philadelphia, because he promiseth this honour as a revvard, and as an effecte of his loue tovvardes him, saying. And they shal knovv that I haue loued thee. And that vvhich he saith in the 22 Chapter, I fel dovvne to adore before the feete of the Angel: the very same he expresseth thus in the 19 Chapters, I fel before his feete to adore him: making it al one, to adore before his feete, and to adore him.
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11. That no man take thy crovvne.] Perseuêrance in good & continuing to the end. That is, his crovvne of euerlasting life and glorie, if he perseuêre not to the end in faith & good vvorkes: othervvise an other shal enter into his place, as Mathias did both to the dignitie of the Apostleship, & to the heauenly crovvne due for the vvel vsing and executing of the same function: vvhich Iudas might and should haue had, if he had perseuêred to the end. and as the Gentiles came into the grace and place of the Ievves. Other difficulties concerning this kinde of speache are resolued in Schoolemen, and are not here to be stoode vpon.
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〈Greek〉 Ecclesiastici 24, 9. 14. Col. 1, 15.
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16. Lukevvarms.] Zeale and feruour is commendable, Neuters of indifferents in religion. specially in Gods cause: and the Neuters that be neither hote nor cold, are to Christ and his Church burdenous and lothsome, as lukevvarme vvater is to a mans stomake, prouoking him to vomite, and therfore he threateneth to void vp such Neuters out of his mouth.
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Concordance Prou. 3, 12. Heb. 12, 6.
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God first calleth vpō man and knocketh at the doore of his hart: that is to say, offereth his grace. and it lieth in man to giue cōsent by free wil holpen also by his grace.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 11.31
… And so the Holy Spirit, of whom the Lord says, “He will teach you all truth,” is signified by this number.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 122.8
… and He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of God.” And what of the Revelation? Are they not there called the seven Spirits of God,
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Repentance 8
This if you doubt, unravel the meaning of “what the Spirit saith to the churches.” He imputes to the Ephesians “forsaken love;” reproaches the Thyatirenes with “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.34
… xviii. 9 ). For in truth he who does not strenuously execute the good things he has begun imitates in the slackness of his negligence the hand of the destroyer. Hence it is said by the Angel to the Church of Sardis, Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I find not thy works complete before my God (
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 27
We have also in the Scriptures robes mentioned as allegorizing the hope of the flesh. Thus in the Revelation of John it is said: “These are they which have not defiled their clothes with women,”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 27
We have also in the Scriptures robes mentioned as allegorizing the hope of the flesh. Thus in the Revelation of John it is said: “These are they which have not defiled their clothes with women,” —indicating, of course, virgins, and such as have become “eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.” Therefore they shall be “clothed in white rai ment,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 2.7
15. “What shall I render unto the Lord,” that whilst my memory recalls these things my soul is not appalled at them? I will love Thee, O Lord, and thank Thee, and confess unto Thy name,
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.20.2
… for He did not deliver to Him the things of another, but His own. But in all things [it is implied that] nothing has been kept back [from Him], and for this reason the same person is the Judge of the living and the dead; “having the key of David: He shall open, and no man shall shut: He shall shut, and no man shall open.”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 On Daniel 2.20
20. For He was Himself the perfect Seal, and the Church is the key: “He who openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 5.4
… In fact the book was seen by John, “written within and without, and sealed; and no one could open it to read it, and to loose the seals thereof, but the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, who has the key of David,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.5
… How many there are to-day who fancy themselves learned, yet the scriptures are a sealed book to them, and one which they cannot open save through Him who has the key of David, “he that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 58.9
… To the multitudes the Saviour spoke only in parables and, to make it clear that His words had a mystical meaning, said:—“he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Unless all things that are written are opened by Him “who hath the key of David, who openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth,”
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Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 12
… “Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Also to the angel of the church in Pergamus (mention was made) of Antipas, the very faithful martyr, who was slain where Satan dwelleth. Also to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Unity of the Church 20
… Whosoever that confessor is, he is not greater, or better, or dearer to God than Solomon, who, although so long as he walked in God’s ways, retained that grace which he had received from the Lord, yet after he forsook the Lord’s way he lost also then Lord’s grace. And therefore it is written, “Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Advantage of Patience 13
… and the things that are past perish, while those which have begun cease to be perfect; as it is written, “The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in whatever day he shall transgress;” and again, “Hold that which thou hast, that another take not thy crown.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 8
… “We are children of God: but if children, then heirs; heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ, if we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.” And in the Apocalypse the same exhortation of divine preaching speaks, saying, “Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace 39
… for God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham,” to show that they were in such wise to be cut off if they did not produce fruit, that the number which was promised to Abraham would not be wanting,—is yet more plainly declared in the Apocalypse: “Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 106
… For love “is patient and kind, and envies not, acts not iniquitously, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeks not its own .” Hence if love seeks not its own, how greatly does he sin who covets another’s? From which I desire you to keep yourself altogether, and to remember that sentence which says, “Hold what thou hast, that no other take thy crown
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.26
… according to the saying, “Behold, proselytes shall come to thee through Me, and shall flee to thee for refuge.” And if all this is to take place with the captives, then it is plain that they must be about their temple, and that they must go up there again to be built up, having become the most precious of stones. For we find with John in his Apocalyse,
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 5.21
… But this Father, he says, is called Elohim. Not less did Edem also long for Elohim, and the mutual passion brought them together into the one nuptial couch of love. And from such an intercourse the Father generates out of Edem unto himself twelve angels. And the names of the angels begotten by the Father are these: Michaël, Amen,
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Refutation of All Heresies 6.37
… Then he said, that the restoration of the entire ensued when all the (elements), coming down into the one letter, sounded one and the same pronunciation, and an image of the pronunciation he supposed to exist when we simultaneously utter the word Amen .
Commodian † AD 313 The Instructions of Commodianus 43
… In one place they delay, but a part has wept at the judgment. Such will be the heat, that the stones themselves shall melt. The winds assemble into lightnings, the heavenly wrath rages; and wherever the wicked man fleeth, he is seized upon by this fire. There will be no succour nor ship of he sea. Amen
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 5.2.3
3. For they conceded cheerfully the appellation of Witness to Christ ‘the faithful and true Witness,’
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.14.6
… Further, if the expression, ‘Who was faithful,’ is a difficulty to them, from the thought that ‘faithful’ is used of Him as of others, as if He exercises faith and so receives the reward of faith, they must proceed at this rate to find fault with Moses for saying, ‘God faithful and true
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 5
We duly proceed, my brethren, from feasts to feasts, duly from prayers to prayers, we advance from fasts to fasts, and join holy-days to holy-days. Again the time has arrived which brings to us a new beginning
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 10
In Thee will I begin to speak, Thou Head that didst begin all created things.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 11.32
… God created the heaven and the earth;” if he allege that this phrase, “In the beginning,” does not mean that nothing was made before (for the angels were), but that God made all things by His Wisdom or Word, who is named in Scripture “the Beginning,” as He Himself, in the gospel, replied to the Jews when they asked Him who He was, that He was the Beginning;
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 31.3
… May you be made of fruits such as those which grow before God’s temple and of which He says, “Behold they are good, very good.” The Saviour likes nothing that is half and half, and, while he welcomes the hot and does not shun the cold, he tells us in the Apocalypse that he will spew the lukewarm out of his mouth.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 4.12
… “I know thy works, that thou art neither hot nor cold. I would that thou wert hot or cold. But now thou art lukewarm, and I will forthwith spue thee out of my mouth;”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 4.19
… “I would that thou wert hot or cold. But now thou art lukewarm and I will begin to spue thee out of My mouth.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.34
… Let them hear, then, what is written, It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to be turned backward ( 2 Pet. ii. 21 ). Let them hear what is written; I would thou wert cold or hot: but, because than art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to spue thee out of my mouth (
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 54.6
… But while He does not wish the death of a sinner, but only that he should be converted and live, He hates the lukewarm
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 13.24
… Yet that these persons who are forward to quote Scripture, and yet know not the usages of its language, may know that not only what is equal and consubstantial with God is said to proceed out of His mouth, let them hear or read what God says: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 99.3
… as the apostle says, “As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” And taste may be included, in accordance with which God hateth the bitter in temper, and spueth out of His mouth those who are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot:
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 3.9
… Because thou sayest I am rich and wealthy and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich, and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Repentance 8
… upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches;
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On Works and Alms 14
… and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear in thee; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 147.9
… It may be that I am as great a sinner as you make me out; if so, you can at least imitate a sinner’s tears. Are my sins your virtues? Or does it alleviate your misery that many are in the same plight as yourself? Let a few tears fall on the silk and fine linen which make you so resplendent. Realize that you are naked, torn, unclean, a beggar.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 4.19
… For he says in his heart that which the Lord tells us: “Because I am rich and wealthy and want nothing;” and so this which follows is at once applied to him: “But thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 2
… Why, from the very fact that thou art become poorer, believest thou thyself rich? Hear in the Apocalypse the Lord’s voice rebuking thee with righteous reproaches: “Thou sayest,” says He, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and blind, and poor, and naked.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Monogamy 7
… in order that the son, too, may carry out the precept of God, “Honour father and mother.” Us, moreover, Jesus, the Father’s Highest and Great Priest, clothing us from His own store
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 1.11
… and even the brightness of the pupils is impaired, because they are worn continually by the flux upon them. The blear-eyed, then, is one whose sense nature has made keen, but whom a depraved habit of life confuses. To him it is well said through the angel, Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see (
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Lapsed 14
… nor does he repress, but nourishes wrong-doing. But he who, with braver counsels, rebukes at the same time that he instructs a brother, urges him onward to salvation. “As many as I love,” saith the Lord, “I rebuke and chasten.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 22.14
… As it is said in the Old Testament, "Whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, and chastiseth every son whom He receiveth;" and, "If we receive good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not also receive evil?" So we read also in the New Testament, "Whom I love I rebuke and chasten;"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 50.24
24. “But thou hatest instruction” ( ver. 17 ). Thou hatest discipline. When I spare, thou singest and praisest: when I chasten, thou murmurest: as though, when I spare, I am thy God: and, when I chasten, I am not thy God. “I rebuke and chasten those whom I love.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.11
… For whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. For what son is there whom the father doth not correct? But if ye are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” And in the Apocalypse: “Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.12
But, on the other hand, the sick are to be admonished that they feel themselves to be sons of God in that the scourge of discipline chastises them. For, unless He purposed to give them an inheritance after correction, He would not have a care to educate them by afflictions. For hence the Lord says to John by the angel, Whom I love I rebuke and chasten (
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.2
19. For Christ standeth at the door of thy soul. Hear Him speaking. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man open to Me, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with Me.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.26
… for if you shut your door, and, according to the precept of the Gospel, pray to your Father in secret, He will come and knock, saying: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man…open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 5.17
… And of this coming it is that the Lord speaks in the Gospel. “I,” says He, “and my Father will come to him, and will make our abode with him.” And again: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the gate, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 25.4
… the prophets which were before you.” And again, “Because ye shall stand before kings and powers, and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son, and he that endureth to the end shall be saved;” and “To him that overcometh will I give to sit on my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down on the throne of my Father.”
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1. AND TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF SARDIS WRITE. — This is the fifth epistle of Christ to the Bishop of Sardis: in which He corrects all the faithful who have fallen into mortal sin, and stirs and urges them both by threats and promises to rise from it through penance. Now Sardis was a great city of Lydia, at the side of Mount Tmolus, most celebrated, and was the kingdom of Croesus, king of the Lydians. Whence Horace, book 1, epistle 11: Why do you ask about elegant Samos, why the kingdom of Croesus, Sardis? You ask: Who was this Angel, that is, the Bishop of Sardis? Aureolus answers, and Antiochus Bronchus, a Sardian who published a commentary on the first three chapters of the Apocalypse, that it was St. Melito. For Baronius teaches from Eusebius in the Chronicle that this man was Bishop of Sardis shortly after these times, and in the year of Christ 172 wrote an apology to the Emperor Antoninus on behalf of Christians. The same Eusebius, book IV, chapter 26, he praises for his learning, chastity and sanctity, and says that he rests in Sardis. Aureolus adds that he was a Martyr, but Eusebius does not have this. Yet it does not fit Blessed Melito, what John says here: "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead." Again, John writes here to Bishops present, not future ones. But Melito lived seventy years after St. John, namely in the year of Christ 172. Thus Lyran, Pererius and Alcazar. It is therefore uncertain who this Bishop was. Some with Erasmus adapt this to Lucifer the Sardian, Bishop of Cagliari (for Erasmus in his Notes to the dialogue of St. Jerome Against the Luciferians thinks that Lucifer was not Bishop of Cagliari, but of Smyrna, the author of the Luciferians, but he errs), who with Saints Athanasius and Hilary most generously resisted the Emperor Constantius and the Arians; but finally he made a schism from the Church, because it received Arian Bishops who repented, whom he, being too rigid, thought should not be received. Wherefore it fits him, what is said here: "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead." Indeed, Rufinus reports that he died in this death and schism, and from him Baronius. Yet Antiochus Bronchus, himself a Sardian and also of Cagliari, strives to prove by many sufficiently forceful reasons that Lucifer came to his senses, and returned to the Church, and died in its holy peace, writing in chapter II of the Apocalypse, disputation 11, question II, and especially from the fact that St. Jerome, Nazianzen, Hilary and other Fathers call him blessed, and celebrate him with great praises. Again, that the Sardians and Vercellians publicly venerate him as a Saint and invoke him, and have erected a basilica in his honor near Cagliari, which still stands. I say they adapt it: for it is certain that John does not speak literally here of Lucifer; for Lucifer was a Sardian, that is, Bishop of the city of Cagliari in Sardinia: but John speaks to the Bishop of the city of Sardis which was in Asia. Again, Lucifer lived two hundred years after St. John. THUS SAITH HE THAT HATH THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD, AND THE SEVEN STARS. — "Spirits," that is, the angels who rule the Church, as I said in chapter 1, verse 4; "stars," that is, Bishops, as if to say: You dwell, O Bishop of Sardis, among holy Angels and Bishops, be ashamed therefore to live unworthily, be ashamed to neglect the episcopal office, in which others either burn with zeal or are serious; be ashamed to live in the death of the soul, you who ought to have given life to others. Otherwise Alcazar: for he understands by the seven spirits the seven virtues necessary for rule, which Christ has, and which He proposes to His Bishops to imitate, namely beneficence, equity, wisdom, patience, fortitude, threatening and severity. In each of these the Bishop of Sardis was deficient in the governance of his faithful. Therefore he is warned here to look upon Christ and these spirits of Christ, and to consider himself in them, how far he is from them: and therefore to correct himself, and to resume these spirits, that is, these virtues. See what is said in chapter 1, verse 4. I KNOW THY WORKS, THAT THOU HAST A NAME THAT THOU LIVEST, AND THOU ART DEAD. — Therefore this Bishop was in a state of mortal sin, as if to say: I know, and I do not care, I do not esteem the good works that you do; because, although you have a name that you live, in truth however before God you are dead: thus Alcazar. Secondly and more simply, as if to say: I know your works both good and bad, I know your morals, I know your state, that you seem to live, and to do many good works, when in truth you are dead, and your works are dead, not living. See here, how much the judgments of God differ from the judgments of men. Note, "thou art dead," that is, you have fallen from the life of grace through sin. For, as St. Augustine says, and from him Isidore, book I On the Highest Good: "The life of the body is the soul, the life of the soul is God; and just as the body is dead without the soul, so the soul is dead without God." Question: What was the sin of this Bishop? First, Rupertus holds that this sin was carnal, of hidden lust, and therefore is passed over in silence here by St. John. This is mere suspicion having no sufficient foundation in the text. Second, Lyranus holds that it was hypocrisy, by which under the appearance of holiness he concealed hidden sins. Third and best, Primasius, Bede and Alcazar teach that this sin was negligence in pastoral and episcopal duty, namely that he was negligent in teaching, admonishing and correcting the people, in strengthening the weak, in averting scandals, in repressing heresies, etc. For many there are who are good to themselves, not to others; many are good faithful, but not good Bishops; many are good sheep, but not good Pastors. Many again appear outwardly benign, gracious, distinguished, because they take excellent care of the external appearance of the Church, the ornament of altars, the splendor of the building, generous almsgiving, etc., but neglect internal matters, namely the vices of their people, their ignorance, dangers to their salvation, when this is chiefly the Bishop's duty. And therefore to men looking at external things they appear to be alive, praiseworthy and holy, when before God they are dead. Such was this Bishop of Sardis. That this is so is evident from the words of the text: for correcting this his defect, Christ says: "Be watchful:" he was therefore deficient in watchfulness of pastoral care; "and strengthen the rest, which were ready to die:" he was therefore deficient in care of his people, because through his negligence many were spiritually dead. "If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee." Behold, all these things prove that the Bishop's defect was sloth and carelessness in feeding the flock committed to him. O how great watchfulness is required in a Bishop, who like Argus must guard, care for, feed and save not one but so many thousands of souls, as much as his own! O how many Prelates perish, not because they have lived wickedly, but because they have not corrected the crimes of others entrusted to them! Pliny to Vespasian: "Life," he says, "of mortals is watchfulness," indeed "the life of Pastors is watchfulness, the life of Bishops is watchfulness." Apollonius of Tyana, when he learned that Vespasian, not yet Emperor, rose at dawn to conduct business, is said to have spoken thus: ἄξιος βασιλεύειν — this man will rule. Thus Philostratus in Apollon. Hence that emblem of Vespasian: "It befits an Emperor to die standing." Hannibal understood this, of whom Silius, lib. II: First, scarcely granting to sleep the whole night after the day's marches, he, watchful, and not easily inclined to rest, believing that sleep robs life of time. The symbol of this watchfulness is the dolphin, which according to Aelian, lib. XI, cap. xxii, is perpetually in motion, even when sleeping: for then it descends from the surface of the water to the depths, until it touches the bottom of the earth, by whose impact it is roused from sleep: thus it never ceases from motion. The symbol of the same is the lion, which sleeps with open eyes: hence they are accustomed to carve lions before the doors of temples and palaces, as if watchful guardians. The symbol of the same is the sun carved on the tomb of Joshua; for when Joshua, a most watchful and mighty leader, pursuing victory against the Canaanites, stood the sun still by his command, the Hebrews in memory of so great a man and miracle placed a statue of the sun in his tomb. See P. Serarius on cap. xxiv of Joshua. This saying is well known: Battles stand with a watchful commander. Memory-worthy is the saying of John of Avila, whom Spain celebrates for his holiness and the efficacy of his preaching: So many and so great, he says, are the obligations of Pastors, that he who would fulfill even a third part of them in reality would be esteemed holy by men, and yet being content with that alone, would not have escaped hell. Indeed St. Chrysostom, writing on the Acts of the Apostles, asserts with great feeling of mind that few of the Bishops are saved, because it is most difficult to render a good account of so many souls entrusted to them. Similar things are said by other Fathers, whom I cited in 1 Tim. cap. III, vers. 1. Wherefore Pope Pius V was accustomed to say that the Papacy was not a thing to be desired, and that he experienced in it so many troubles and labors that with them poverty, discipline and all the labors which he had undergone in Religious life were in no way comparable. Wherefore as often as he recalled his Religious life, he would sigh and assert that he had never and nowhere found peace except in it. Indeed he added that he esteemed the Papacy to be an impediment to eternal salvation. Whence as soon as he was created Pontiff, growing pale and as if suffused with horror: "I," said he, "as long as I was a Religious, had good hope concerning my salvation; when made a Cardinal I began to fear; now that I am created Pontiff I almost despair of it." These words truly from Pius, who, if anyone in this age, was worthy of that rank, and whom he illustrated with prudence, fortitude, sanctity and miracles, so that the faithful deservedly offer prayers and vows at his tomb, and here in Rome there is discussion concerning his canonization. Following this domestic example, Cardinal Alexandrinus, nephew of Pius V, now about to die: "How," said he, "in this hour would I wish to have spent my whole life in my Religious life (for he was a Dominican, as was Pius V)! Truly now I would rather have served my whole life as cook of my monastery than to have been a Cardinal." Nicholas IV, created Pontiff from being a Franciscan, said he would rather be cook of the Friars than a Cardinal. Pope Paul III, breathing his last: "I would rather," said he, "have subjected myself to the cook of the household of the Capuchins than to have sustained this dignity so near to God through a course of sixteen years." Thus Father Jovius relates it in his Life. Many said similar things in that article. Namely that one opens man's eyes, while showing that all things past were equally vain and burdensome, and reveals the imminent path to judgment. Truly, while we live and are strong, honor and pleasure seize the mind to themselves, so that we do not think even of things to come in the short term. Macrobius in the Saturnalia is the author that in the time of the Emperor Trajan there was a certain man at Rome bound by many debts, who nevertheless slept peacefully on both ears. When therefore he had died, and his goods were sold under the hammer, the Emperor ordered that the mattress in which he was accustomed to sleep be purchased for himself. Being asked why? He replied that it could not be otherwise than that this mattress had great power for obtaining sleep. Namely by this saying he censured and mocked the carelessness of the deceased. How many Pastors today bound by so many and such great obligations to God and the Church, nevertheless sleep so securely, as if they had undertaken no care with the Pastorate, no obligation! On the other hand, holy and wise Bishops weighed and pondered this burden so much that very many of them, abhorring it, abdicated themselves from the Episcopate. Thus indeed did St. Gregory Nazianzen, who, leaving the Patriarchate of Constantinople, went to the countryside, and there lived the life of a monk, as his Life has it. The same did St. Adalbert, Bishop of Prague, thereafter a monk and martyr. The very same thing was done by Lucidus of Ficole, Boniface of Auvergne, Gaudentius of Apsara, Martyrius of Antioch, Justus of Lyons, Peter of Ravenna, Sergius of Damascus, Farnulph of Cîteaux, Hildulph of Trier, Deodatus also of Trier, Gondebert of Sens, Lambert of Florence, Bishops, who all were illustrated by sanctity, many also by miracles, as Blessed Peter Damian narrates more fully, epistle 9 to Pope Nicholas II, where he himself asks permission from him to do the same, so that, leaving the Cardinalate and the Episcopate of Ostia, it might be permitted to him to return to the monastery. And he added the examples of two illustrious Bishops, which, because they are rare, I shall weave in here. The first is Blessed Nonnus, who converted St. Pelagia, formerly a harlot; concerning him he thus says: "Blessed Nonnus, who was also called Hippolytus, after he had converted thirty thousand Saracens to the faith of Christ by most efficacious preaching; after he had drawn St. Pelagia from the brothels to the chastity of the Church, after he had finally clearly explained certain books of holy expositions, at length abandoned the Episcopate, from the regions of Antioch, whence he was descended, sought the Roman territories. And when Blessed Aurea near the city of Ostia, with a stone bound to her neck, had consummated her martyrdom in the marine waves, Blessed Nonnus collected the holy body out of devotion, and buried it with all care. Whom soon the same persecutor, who was called Ulpius, ordered to be plunged into a pit full of water along the bank of the Tiber; whose body afterwards, when his triumphal martyrdom was consummated, Christian devotion buried in the city which is called Portus, immediately there was heard a voice as of infants crying for almost one hour: Thanks be to God." Therefore Blessed Peter Damian believes that Blessed Nonnus, who converted St. Pelagia, was St. Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr of Portus, who was brought to martyrdom by Ulpian the Jurist and Prefect under Alexander Severus, in the year of the Lord 229, whose memory the Church celebrates every year on August 21, and to whom a marble statue was erected, on which were inscribed sixteen of his Paschal cycles, which exists in the Vatican Library: for he was a man of great learning, who wrote much. But Baronius rightly refutes this in the Martyrology, on October 8, where he teaches that Pelagia and Nonnus lived under Theodosius the Younger, while Hippolytus lived much earlier under Numerianus and Alexander, when persecution was raging. Another is St. Arnulph, father of Pepin and grandfather of Charlemagne. He, having left the Duchy of Lotharingia, entered a monastery near the Moselle from fervent zeal of spirit. Drawn from there, he was made Bishop of Metz; but stirred by the incentives of his own salvation and perfection, choosing a successor for himself in the Episcopate, he again sought the desert, and there lived until his blessed death. Blessed Peter Damian, striving to imitate the examples of these and other Fathers, thus concludes his letter: "Supported therefore by the authority of these and other Fathers, I irrevocably renounce the Episcopate and monasteries in your holy hands; and because I am not worthy to persist in ecclesiastical dignity on account of my innumerable sins, may divine mercy grant me, through your prayers, venerable Father, for whatever remains of my life, to remain in mourning and penance. For I confess that I came to this honor both criminal and vicious, and not without reproach, and lived in it reprehensibly: and therefore it seemed safe to me that I myself should rather lay it down willingly, than before the tribunal of the terrible judge, in the sight of all angels and men, undergo the sentence of deposition under eternal damnation." I omit Celestine the Supreme Pontiff, who was the founder of the Celestines, and having resigned the Papacy, by an example unheard of for ages, withdrew to them, and being renowned for miracles, deserved to be inscribed in the catalogue of Saints. And Blessed Peter Damian, who, having abdicated the Cardinalate and the Episcopate of Ostia, withdrew to his Camaldolese. In our age Alfonso Ramirius Vergara, a celebrated Doctor of Spain, when near death, said that two pledges of eternal salvation had been given to him by God: one, that he had not allowed himself to be made a Bishop; the other, that he had given Father Villanova as master of his soul, whom he called his Guardian Angel. Thus Father Sacchinus in the Annals of the Society of Jesus, in the year of the Lord 1557, number 135. THOU HAST A NAME THAT THOU LIVEST,—that is, of one living. Hence some think the name of this Bishop was Zozimus, that is, living, as if to say: Thou art falsely called Zozimus, that is, living; in truth thou art dead. Thus Naomi says in Ruth 1, 20: "Call me not Naomi, that is, beautiful; but call me Mara, that is, bitter, because the Almighty hath filled me with great bitterness." But this is my conjecture, and therefore uncertain: that which is certain is that this Bishop was commonly well spoken of, and had a good name and reputation, as one who lived piously and holily. Thus Lyra. However, Alcazar denies this. For how, he says, could he have had the reputation of sanctity, who was so negligent and careless in the office of Pastor that he was dead before God? I answer, because men consider external and splendid things; they do not penetrate internal things and those which are God's, and properly the obligation of the Episcopate, as I said a little before. Again Alcazar believes that here allusion is made to the name of the star, as if to say: I have chosen and called thee a star, and placed thee one among the seven illustrious ones of Asia, that thou shouldest be a star, that is, a living light and ever shining. And thou by thy sloth hast extinguished thy star, and made it as dead, which emits no light of example and doctrine. This allusion is apt enough, but not the genuine sense. For thus he would rather have said: Thou hast the name of a shining star, but thou art an extinguished star. For the name of light and darkness is more fitting for a star than the name of life and death. The name therefore signifies reputation, as I have said.
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2. BE WATCHFUL,—unto the knowledge of thy defects and those of thy flock. He alludes to the name of the star always shining, and by night as it were always watching and keeping guard, and to the name of Bishop; for Bishop in Greek is the same as inspector. Therefore his proper duty is to watch continually, and to inspect and look about his whole Church, that he may provide for it in all things, restore what has fallen, perfect and adorn what stands. Whence St. Paul in II Timothy, chapter IV, 5, says: "But thou," he says, "be watchful." Moreover, for a Bishop to watch is the same as to have care of his flock, and to provide for it in all things, as Primasius and Bede say. For the slumber of a Shepherd, equally as the sleep of a dog, exposes the flock manifestly to the danger of wolves and death. It is therefore the duty of Shepherds and princes to keep watch and be vigilant. Parmenio did this excellently; when the Greeks bore ill that Philip, king of Macedonia, rested somewhat during the day, and therefore did not admit him to their conference, excusing him he said: "Marvel not, if Philip now sleeps: for when you sleep, he himself keeps watch." Thus Plutarch in his Apophthegms. He touches here upon two duties of a Bishop, which were lacking in this Bishop, namely to watch and to confirm, concerning which he adds: "Confirm the rest, which were about to die," that is, good works which were begun do not leave off, but continue them, until they are completed. For if they shall be left off, they will undoubtedly die, cease and vanish away, both the works and the merit of the works. Thus St. Gregory, III part of the Pastoral, admonition 35, and Andrew of Caesarea. The Greek manuscripts favour this, which have thus: ἃ ἤμελλες ἀποκάνειν, that is, which thou wast about to lose; which, namely, works and merits. But our Interpreter reads: ἃ μέλλει ἀποθανεῖν, that is, which were about to die. Hear St. Gregory: "If that which appears to be done does not grow with careful intention, even that which had been well done decreases. In this world indeed the human soul is as it were a ship, striving against the force of a river, which is not permitted to stand in one place: because it is carried back to the depths, unless it strives toward the heights. Hence it is that through Solomon it is said: He that is slack and dissolute in his work is brother to him that dissipates his works. Because namely he who does not strictly execute good things begun imitates by the dissolution of negligence the hand of one destroying. Hence to the angel of the Church of Sardis it is said: Be watchful, and confirm the rest, which were about to die: I find not thy works full before my God. Because therefore his works were not found full before God, he foretold that the rest also which had been done would die. For if that which is dead in us is not kindled unto life, that also is extinguished which is held as it were still living." This is mystical, but true. Secondly, Ambrose: The works, he says, even the best, will die, unless they are vivified and confirmed through charity. Rupert notes that by "confirm the rest" it is hinted that not all things in this Bishop were dead, but some were alive. For there lived in him, though feebly, pastoral care, the preaching of the word of God, the administration of the Sacraments. There lived likewise in the people toward him reverence and obedience. But these also were about to die, that is, to be taken from him, if God, with him not doing penance, should make his sin public, and thus show him unworthy of the Episcopate. Thirdly, Haymo explains it in two ways. First, "Confirm the rest, which were about to die," as if to say: If thou wishest to live, beware lest thou seek the praise of thy works from men, "lest the elation of favour corrupt the intention of the work." Secondly, if thou wishest that good works, which thou didst while existing in sin, should live, do penance: for through this good works done in sin are vivified. But this is an error. For those works were and are dead, therefore they cannot be vivified through penance. Better does Pererius from this place prove that good works mortified by subsequent sin are revived through penance. For this Bishop was dead through sin. Whence his preceding good works were mortified by subsequent sin, and plainly about to die, unless he himself through penance should vivify and confirm them. Fourthly, most excellently and genuinely Primasius, Bede, Lyra, Pererius and Alcazar refer these not to the works of the Bishop, but to his flock and subjects. "The rest" therefore, that is, the others. He says nevertheless "the rest" in the neuter gender, both because writing in Greek he has regard to πρόβατα, that is, sheep, which in Greek is neuter; and because Scripture is wont to signify in the neuter gender the universality both of persons and of things, for example all. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Many of thy subjects through thy slumber and negligence are spiritually dead; the rest likewise will die, unless thou watchest over them, and confirmest them in faith and virtue. This is what Christ commanded Peter, and in him all Pastors: "Confirm thy brethren," Luke xxii, 32. Moreover confirmation follows from vigilance. For when the Bishop is vigilant, the subjects are confirmed through the Bishop's inspection, exhortation, providence, etc. Hence God rebukes negligent Pastors through Ezekiel, saying cap. xxxiv, vers. 4: "That which was infirm, you did not strengthen." Whence, opposing himself to them as a good Shepherd, he says vers. 16: "That which was infirm, I will strengthen." Note: he does not say: "Those things that are about to die," but, "Those things that were about to die," so as to signify that he hopes and is fully confident that the Bishop, by this admonition of Christ, will rise from sin through penance, and that he himself will live, and will strengthen and vivify his subjects. Moreover this passage provides a moral example concerning the perfection of works. Patience full and perfect is that "which makes one insensible to injury as a stone," as St. Anthony predicted would happen to Ammon the Abbot through God's grace in the Lives of the Fathers, lib. VII, cap. ix. He is perfectly patient who, with David, says in adversities equally as in prosperity: "I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth." And with St. Job: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord." And with St. Servulus, pressed by poverty and disease, who continually sings psalms to God night and day, concerning whom St. Gregory, lib. IV Dialog., cap. xiv. Full humility is not present when someone does not seek honor, but does not endure being despised; when someone desires to be heard as vile and abject, but not as of small mind, imprudent, unlearned, proud. Full humility is, says Abbot Motois in the Lives of the Fathers, lib. VII, cap. xiii, "that which neither grows angry, nor permits others to grow angry." Again, "that which grants pardon before being asked." Besides this, "that which is unperturbed." Finally, "that which blesses those who do evil to it;" and which subjects itself not only to a superior and equal, but also to any inferior, as Christ did to John the Baptist, when he was baptized by him, saying: "For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice." Full obedience is not present when someone wishes to obey this Prelate, not that one; when someone gladly embraces commands that are pleasing and agreeable to him, not those that are displeasing and disagreeable; when someone submits his will to the Superior, not his judgment. Full obedience is that which to all things commanded, or permitted by God, says with the Psalmist: "I became as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs;" which discerns nothing, judges nothing, from those things that shall have been commanded to it, says Cassian, lib. IV Instit., xii, which says and feels: "I am become as a beast before thee." Full charity is not that which loves this one, not that one; a friend, not an enemy; a citizen, not a foreigner. Full charity is that which bears the burdens of any neighbor as its own, nay, which prefers any neighbor to itself; which perfects the work of the neighbor, and leaves its own imperfect, as that Sancius did in the Lives of the Fathers, lib. V, cap. xvi. Finally, that which willingly undertakes and embraces all hardships for the glory of God and for the salvation of neighbors, which loves in deed, not in word; which provokes more by example than by word. Excellently does St. Jerome teach the priest Nepotian: "Let not thy works," he says, "confound thy speech, lest, when thou speakest in the Church, anyone silently answer: Why then dost thou not thyself do these things which thou sayest? A delicate master is he who disputes about fastings on a full belly. A thief can accuse avarice. Thou art a priest of Christ, let thy mind and hand be in accord." I FIND NOT THY WORKS FULL BEFORE MY GOD. — "Full," that is perfect, and this first, because, like a flowering but fruitless tree, thou hast the appearance of piety, not the fruit and works; secondly, like Andrew, because it is not constant, nor persevering in doing good; thirdly, Ambrose: His works, he says, "were not full," but empty, because they were not filled with charity; fourthly, Haymo: His works, although good in themselves, "were not full," because they were not done by him with good intention, but from the appetite of vain praise and glory, says Joachim. Again, because they were mixed and contaminated with other evil works; fifthly, Dionysius the Carthusian: "They were not full," because tepid and remiss; sixthly, "not full," because it is not enough for a Prelate to be good to himself, but he ought also to be good to others, so that he may instruct and perfect them. Thus Bede. Again, "not full," because his works do not extend to all, even enemies, according to the requirement of charity. Properly therefore the works of this Bishop were not full, but empty and vain, first, because they lacked charity, in which the fullness of works consists. For he himself was dead through sin: therefore his works were not full, but empty of charity, and consequently of merit; secondly, because this Bishop was a hypocrite: therefore his works were fair outwardly, and swollen with the wind of glory, but within empty of piety, spirit and merit; thirdly and most genuinely, "were not full," because sleeping in the care of the flock he did not watch, nor confirm those things that were dying, as he said a little before; and so he did not fulfill those things which were his duty and office. This is what Paul commands Timothy: "Fulfill thy ministry," II Timothy IV, 5. To this pertains the saying of d'Avila, which I cited at verse 1, after the middle, and that of St. Jerome to Paulinus: "I am not content that there be anything mediocre in thee: I desire all supreme, all perfect." Wherefore some Scholastics wrongly understand by works not full, works remiss and less intense than the habit itself; and from this they prove that they do not merit an increase of their habit. For this is more subtle, and a side matter in this place; for this Bishop was dead, and therefore lacking the habit of grace and charity, which is the foundation of all merit. He was therefore outside the state of meriting. Thus Gabriel Vasquez I-II, tract. On Merit. Morally, works of patience are not full when someone wishes to suffer this insult, not that one; from this person, not from that one; this sickness and calamity, not that one; this cross, not another. For perfect patience has a perfect work, and embraces all crosses, sicknesses and insults indifferently, and will make it so that they are not punished, from whomever they are inflicted.
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3. HAVE IN MIND THEREFORE HOW THOU HAST RECEIVED, AND HAST HEARD. — "Hast received," that is, thou hast been instructed and taught. For the Hebrew לקח lecach, that is, reception, signifies doctrine received from a teacher. For "how" the Greek is πως, that is, in what manner; but πως is put for ποια, that is, what kind of things. St. John imitates the Septuagint, who thus often translate the Hebrew אשר ascer, as if it were כאשר caascer. Thus Terence says: "So is the deed," for such is. Pliny, lib. VIII, cap. XLVIII: "In antiquity," he says, "a bed was made of straw, such as (that is, of what kind) even then in camps with a blanket." IF THOU SHALT NOT WATCH, I WILL COME TO THEE AS A THIEF. — Slothful and sleeping persons in their vices are wont to propose and promise themselves penance at the end of life. Against these Christ threatens that He will come suddenly, as a thief, and will overwhelm them with death, both present and eternal. For this is a fitting punishment, this is God's just judgment, that those who, when they could repent and would not, cannot repent when they wish; that the time of repenting be denied to those who neglected the time given by God; that the sleep of sinners be punished by the sleep of death and hell; and so let them sleep eternally in the fires of hell, who here slumbered in the beds of sloth. Christ threatens the same thing, Matthew xxiv, 43; Apocalypse xvi, 15; I Thessalonians v, 2. Excellently St. Hilary, can. 26 in Matthew, at the end: "It behooves," he says, "that we be prepared, because ignorance of the day agitates intent solicitude of suspended expectation." Wherefore the Egyptians, says Horus Apollo, lib. II, hieroglyph. 24, wishing to signify death, painted a night-raven. For just as this one suddenly seizes the young of crows at night, so also death seizes and overwhelms men unaware.
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4. BUT THOU HAST A FEW NAMES, — that is, a few truly faithful Christians, a few heads recorded by name. Thus ὀνόματα are ἄνθρωποι according to Seneca, book V On Benefits, chapter XXII, and others. Hence that saying of Tibullus in the Elegy: "Nor a faithful woman's name." And Horace: "O father, the name left to the daughter." Thus God's name is called God himself named, as in Deuteronomy xviii, 5: "Him hath the Lord thy God chosen, that he may stand and minister to the name of the Lord;" Psalm v, 12: "All they that love thy name shall glory in thee;" Jeremiah xxv, 26: "I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord." Names, says Ambrose, he called for men named and famous on account of outstanding virtue, such as to be good among the wicked, and to preserve baptismal innocence, and that by their own effort without the pastor's care, indeed in such great neglect of him. Thus in Exodus xxxiii, God said to Moses, a most perfect man: "I know thee by name." Whence explaining this, John adds: "Who have not defiled their garments." "A few names therefore" he calls a few faithful and holy ones, whose names are known to God, that is whom he knows and loves, and whose names he has written in the book of life. Thus Bede, Ambrose, Haymo, Alcazar and others. He alludes to soldiers, who give their names to military service; for their names are inscribed by the commander in the roll of soldiers. Again to Pastors and Bishops, who inscribe the names of the faithful when they are baptized in the roll of Christians. Finally he alludes to the book of life, to which God has inscribed them inchoately through grace, and will inscribe them perfectly through glory, if they persevere in grace until the end of life. Alcazar adds, rightly that Christians are called names, because in baptism giving their name to Christ, they have testified and professed that they are debtors to the imitation of Christ. For names often among the Greeks and Latins signify debts and debtors. This is more subtle than solid. WHO HAVE NOT DEFILED THEIR GARMENTS, — that is, who have not defiled their bodies with the filth of luxury, which are as it were the garments of the soul, says Arethas. Secondly, Alcazar understands by garment the conscience. For this is cleansed and defiled. Thirdly and more aptly, he calls the garment purity and innocence, which they received with the white garment in baptism and preserved, or certainly repaired when defiled by sin through penance. Thus Ambrose, Haymo, Bede and Ribera. For innocence and purity is as it were the garment and robe of the soul, covering its nakedness and adorning it wonderfully; whence on account of it he promises to it splendid garments of heavenly glory: "He that shall overcome, he says, shall thus be clothed in white garments." He alludes to the white garment which they received in baptism by a certain rite and formula, by which they were admonished to preserve it, so that they might present it unspotted to Christ coming to judgment, concerning which I have spoken on Romans vi, 3 and 4. To this pertains that saying in Ecclesiastes ix, 8: "Let thy garments be always white." Hence in many monasteries when a monk is clothed, a white garment is given to him, and he is admonished not to defile it, but to preserve it white. Wherefore aptly St. Paulinus concerning the boy Celsus, consoles the poor and abject with hope of future glory in these words: And now with burdens lightened for the needy, / Loosen the feet from chains; / That ye may be clothed in abundant light, / Be ye naked to the world. But why does he refresh the Bishop's memory of these candidates? Alcazar answers, so that he might signify that on account of the merits and prayers of those few he does not reject the Bishop; but cares for him, and therefore exhorts him to penance. Again he proposes to the Bishop an illustrious example of his subjects, so that he may be ashamed to be surpassed in holiness by them, and may strive to amend his wicked ways. AND THEY SHALL WALK WITH ME IN WHITE, — that is in most pure and most splendid happiness, in the robe of immortality, brightness and glory. For thus concerning the Blessed as it were clothed in white and glorious he says, chapter vii, verse 9: "Clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." Otherwise Alcazar: Christ promises to them, he says, white garments, that is, the greatest joy of a good conscience, which the just enjoy in this life.
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5. HE THAT SHALL OVERCOME (sin, and the state of sin in which he dwells: for in this state the Bishop here was dead to God. This state is dark, because sad, miserable and deadly: wherefore if he shall overcome it, and shall rise again from sin through penance, He promises him that) HE SHALL BE CLOTHED IN WHITE, — namely, the robe of glory already mentioned. "There is no glorious victory, unless there have been laborious contests," says St. Ambrose in the Offices. AND I WILL NOT BLOT OUT HIS NAME OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, — that is, I will give him the gift of perseverance, that is: I will not suffer him to fall into mortal sin, by which he may lose justice. Thus Pererius. Secondly, Ambrose and others: The book, they say, of life is immutable, and whosoever is once written in it cannot be blotted out: yet some are blotted out not according to truth, but according to the opinion of men, who thought them to be holy and written in the book of life, when in truth they were not written, as if He said: "I will not blot him out," that is, I will declare that he was not blotted out of the book of life. Thus also Augustine in Psalm LXVIII, 29: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living." Let them be blotted out, he says, not truly, but according to their opinion and hope. For when contrary to their hope they shall see themselves to be among the number of the damned, they shall seem to be blotted out of the book of life. St. Thomas objects to this exposition, I part., Quest. XXIV, art. 3, that not to be blotted out of the book of life is promised here to the Saints as a reward from God; but this reward is not situated in the opinion of men. Pererius answers that it is a meiosis: for by negation affirmation is signified, as if He said: I will make it plain that he is among the number of Saints, I will canonize him. For this is a great reward, praise and glory of the Saints. Thirdly, Ribera: "I will not blot out," that is, he says, I will not condemn him, but will cause him to live in perpetual glory. It is a metonymy; for the object is put for the power or act, namely the book for the glory, to which one is written in the book. For properly no one can be blotted out of the book of life. Fourthly and most rightly, St. Thomas, I p., Quest. XXIV, art. 3: The Saints, he says, are written in the book of life in two ways: First, inchoately as to present justice, in which manner all Christians are written in the book of life in baptism. Whence Paul says to them, Ephes. II, 19: "You are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God." Secondly, completely as to perseverance and glory. The first can be blotted out; whence Psalm LXVIII it is said: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living." See canon 43 in St. Paul. Of such Christ here speaks, as if to say: He that shall overcome and shall persevere in this victory and shall continue, I will not blot out, but will continue to write him in the book of life, as I wrote him in it from the beginning of his victory, so that if he continue to overcome unto the end, he may truly obtain the glory to which he is written. For it is a meiosis, as Pererius rightly noted. See concerning the book of life what I said Philip. cap. iv, vers. 2. AND I WILL CONFESS HIS NAME BEFORE MY FATHER, AND BEFORE HIS ANGELS, — I will acknowledge him for my servant, and therefore will cause it that he be not ashamed on account of his past sins, because he has blotted them out through penance; but rather I will make him glorious together with the penitent, and one correcting his ways, and fervent in amendment, and will celebrate his name before God and the angels.
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7. AND TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA WRITE. — This is the sixth epistle of Christ to the Bishop of Philadelphia, in which the faithful are instructed and warned by Christ, those zealous for piety and the worship of God, who are still of modest virtue, but protected by God and increased by happy outcomes: such are novices both in faith and in Religion, says Alcazar. Wherefore this epistle to Philadelphia, like that to Smyrna, contains nothing of reproof. First therefore, this Bishop is praised. Second, the grace and efficacy of preaching is promised to him, by which he may also convert adversaries. Third, Christ promises him aid in tribulation: whence he stirs him to constancy and perseverance. You may ask: Who was this Bishop? Aureolus and Lyranus answer (who says this is the common opinion of the Interpreters) that it was St. Quadratus, who was a learned and celebrated Martyr under the Emperor Hadrian, to whom he also presented a book, or apology for Christians, by which he also bent the mind of Hadrian, so that he stopped and prohibited the persecution of Christians begun against them, as Eusebius testifies, lib. IV Hist., III. The timing favors this. For St. Quadratus flourished about the year of Christ 125, that is, 28 years after the Apocalypse was written. Yet it is an obstacle that St. Jerome and others hand down that St. Quadratus was Bishop of Athens, not Philadelphia. Whence Pererius, Alcazar and others deny that this Bishop was St. Quadratus, and assert that it is uncertain who this Bishop was. THIS SAITH THE HOLY (that is, the author and lover of holiness) AND TRUE, — that is, truthful and faithful (for this is in Hebrew נאמן neeman, or amen) in fulfilling the promises which he promised to those contending and conquering for truth and holiness. Thus Ribera. Second, Alcazar: "True," he says, that is, perfect: so that Philadelphia may see in Christ that he is not yet true, that is, perfect, and in him may consider how far he falls short of perfection. Hence in Greek it is ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ ἀληθής, that is, that holy one, that true one, namely by antonomasia through excellence and preeminence. Alcazar adds that this is not two, but only one epithet, namely, "Holy true," that is, he who has true holiness, true, that is, perfect. For thus often in Scripture true is not opposed to false, but to imperfect, as when Christ says of Nathanael, John I, 47: "Behold a true Israelite;" and of himself: "I am the true vine," John xv, 1. Thus he calls the Eucharist "the true bread from heaven," John vi, 32; and cap. iv, vers. 23: "True worshippers." And I Timothy vi, 19: "That they may lay hold on the true life." This sense is more apt, because it is more strict, and binds more tightly. For Christ proposes to Philadelphia, who was of modest virtue, his perfect holiness as it were a mirror and as it were a mark, so that he may aspire to it and strive for it. WHO HATH THE KEY OF DAVID: WHO OPENETH, AND NO MAN SHUTTETH: SHUTTETH, AND NO MAN OPENETH. — First, Rupertus, Ambrose, Anselm, Richard, Lyranus, Joachim, Thomas, Pannonius and Viegas: The key of David, they say, is the opening and understanding of Holy Scripture and of all the Prophets, among whom David shone forth in lineage, deeds, kingdom, and prophecy, and expressed the mysteries of Christ vividly; so that he who understands David can easily understand the other Prophets. For thus, Luke XI, 52, Christ says to the Scribes: "Thou hast taken away the key of knowledge." Second, Primasius takes it as the royal power of Christ. For this is called the key of David, because Christ was born of the line of David, and because David the king was a type of Christ the king. For just as David the king reigned over carnal Israel, so Christ reigns over spiritual, that is, the faithful. Third, Ansbertus: This key is Christ; whence he does not say which, but who, namely Christ, "openeth." Christ therefore is the door, John xx: "I am the door;" and he is the key, and he is the keyholder himself who opens. Thus Christ opens the intellect to believing, the will to loving; he opens heaven to the pious, shuts it to the impious. Fourth, the key which opens paradise is the cross, says Hugh and Albert. St. Chrysostom, homil. 4 On the Cross, and Alcazar: The cross, he says, of Christ is as it were a key, by which he himself opened heaven, and as it were an instrument of the omnipotence of Christ, which is a royal key, by which all things can be shut and opened. Fifth, this key of heaven is penance, says the same Hugh. Sixth, St. Thomas, III part., Quest. XVII, art. 1, ad 2, understands this passage concerning the key and closure by which Christ rising closed the limbo of the fathers, so that no one might descend there further, and by which heaven closed by Adam's sin, he opened to us through his death. Again, in the response to 3: The key, he says, of hell, by which it itself is opened and closed, is the power of conferring grace, by which hell is opened to man, namely so that he might go forth from sin, which is the gate of hell. But hell is closed by preserving man, lest he relapse further into sin. Seventh and most excellently: this key is of the temple of David and Solomon, that is, it is the key of the Church, of which the old temple of the Jews was a type. This key therefore signifies that Christ has supreme power in the Church, so that he might open it to those whom through his grace he calls to himself; but he closes it, that is, excludes from it those whom he does not wish to have, namely infidels, who resist the faith and grace of Christ. He speaks of the Church as of one house, namely a temple, of which Christ has the keys. Whence it follows: "Behold, I have set before thee an open door," so that namely with thee preaching, many through my grace might come to faith, and enter the Church, whom neither Domitian, nor threats, nor punishments could prevent; for an open door signifies an occasion, an opportunity, a faculty as well as an abundance of the conversion of men to the Church. Christ indeed as man (for it is of him that we speak here) is the supreme minister of God in the Church, Pontiff and King, nay King of kings, and Lord of lords. Wherefore this key of Christ for opening and closing the kingdom of heaven, without doubt includes the power of excellence for remitting not only penalties, but also faults; a participation of which he communicated to the Apostles, says Francis Suarez, tract. On Penance, disput. xvi, sect. 2; whence he rightly infers: Therefore Peter and the Apostles have the power of absolving from sins, thus of opening; and of retaining them, thus of closing heaven. Thus in the life of St. John Chrysostom we read that St. Peter appeared to him, and gave him two keys, saying: "I am he who confessed the Son of God; have the power of remitting sins: let these keys be the sign of thy jurisdiction." Again by this key is signified the power and dominion of Christ over death and hell, of which he said, cap. I: "I have the keys of death and hell." For he alludes to the persecutions of the Church impending, as if to say: Grave vexations are pressing upon the Churches; but I will keep thee, O Philadelphia, who art of small strength, safe and unharmed from them: for I have the keys both of the Church and of death and hell, I am the supreme Lord of all. Thus Alcazar. Thus Christ, Matt. xvi, 19, promises to Peter, as it were the Prince of the Church, the keys of the kingdom of heaven; for keys of cities are given to princes, so that they might open and close them to whom they wish. Thus, cap. IX, vers. 1: "I saw," he says, "a star, and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss, and it opened the pit." And cap. xx, vers. 1, John saw an angel having the key of the abyss. He alludes to Isaiah XXII, 22, where concerning Eliakim son of Helcias, whom God substituted in the priesthood of old when Sobna was removed, he says: "I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." Where Eliakim is promised supreme power in the house and royal court, so that he might be first from the king; or rather, as Jerome and the Hebrews hold, supreme and pontifical power in the temple; for this is called the house of David, because David delineated and prepared for Solomon the whole design and structure of the temple. The sense therefore of Isaiah is: as if to say, I will give Eliakim the priesthood, so that he might be the overseer of the temple, and close and open it at his pleasure. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, Haymo, D. Thomas, Lyra, Dionysius there, and Ticonius, Primasius, Andrew, Arethas, Bede, Anselm, Ribera, Pererius, Alcazar here.
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8. BEHOLD I HAVE SET BEFORE THEE AN OPEN DOOR (of preaching, the conversion of the Gentiles), BECAUSE THOU HAST A LITTLE STRENGTH. — In Greek δύναμιν, that is, power, as if to say: Because thou art weak and feeble in thyself, therefore I have set before thee an open door, so that namely not by thy own, but by my strength, and I opening the way, thou mayest bring and lead not only the Gentiles, but also the Jews into the Church. For this is what he adds: "Behold I will give of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not: behold I will make them that they may come and adore before thy feet." Joachim the Abbot understands this prophecy of the Angel of Philadelphia concerning a certain new Order to be in the Church, which, he says, Jesus designates, which will be distinguished and beloved before many others, and in the last time to be multiplied and enlarged. Many have suspected that he designated our Society, as Viegas reports at length here, sect. 3, because in it there is Philadelphia, that is, brotherly love. Secondly, because he says to it these things "Holy and True," verse 8, to Smyrna, which was of proven and select virtue. Here is true that saying of the Apostle, II Corinthians XII, 9: "The strength of God is made perfect in our infirmity." See the things said there. He says therefore: "Thou hast a little strength," because for the conversion of the Jews great strength of spirit, preaching and zeal were required. For although knowledge, eloquence, miracles greatly help toward this conversion, yet nothing promotes and perfects it so much as robust holiness and the effective zeal of the preacher and bishop. For these things not only strongly tolerate all the hardships, labors, persecutions and difficulties occurring in this matter, but also overcome and break through them. And this was lacking in the Bishop of Philadelphia. Whence Christ, supplying it, says: "I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon the whole world." Wherefore, admonishing him to prepare it for himself by cooperating strongly with God's grace and to overcome weakness, he spurs him on by proposing to him an appropriate reward of a solid pillar: "He that shall overcome," he says, "I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God." Thus Rupertus, Andreas, Arethas and Alcazar. BECAUSE THOU HAST A LITTLE STRENGTH. — First, Joachim, Lyra and Dionysius explain it, as if to say: Thou hast not received a great gift, that is, the working of miracles. Whence also Ticonius explains it, as if to say: Thy faith is little. For great faith is required for miracles, according to that: "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed." Secondly, Ambrose and Victorinus, as if to say: Thou hast not received great knowledge and understanding of Holy Scripture. Thirdly, Richard, as if to say: Thou art weak in body and hast little strength. Others join these three things, as if to say: Thy health is little, thy holiness is little, thy wisdom is little. See therefore how little thou art, and how little thou ought to think of thyself. Fourthly, Ribera, as if to say: Thou art weak in grace and worldly power; thou hast few powerful friends who might protect thee from the injuries of enemies (whence Andreas notes that the city of Philadelphia was small both in extent and in number of citizens); yet thou hast great strength of patience and virtues, because, as follows, "thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." Fifthly, Primasius, Haymo, Bede and Thomas: "Little," that is, humble and modest, as if to say: Thou knowest that thou canst do little, that thou hast little strength; because thou placest thy hope not in these, but in God. Sixthly, Albert: "Thou hast a little strength," relatively, namely in respect to the closed door of evangelical preaching, which is to be opened to thee; or, as Thomas says, "little," in respect to the great strength which thou shalt have in heaven. Seventhly and best, as if to say: Thou hast little strength for the conversion of the unfaithful, especially of the Jews; wherefore I myself will supply and increase it, and will make it so that thou mayest overcome and convert them. For this is what he said a little before: "Behold I have set before thee an open door." Whence also he adds: "Behold I will give of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but lie: Behold I will make them that they may come and adore before thy feet." For God often uses weak, unlearned, inarticulate men for great things, such as the conversion of souls, as the Apostle testifies, I Corinthians I, so that he may show that this work is not theirs, but his. Whence Alcazar rightly concludes that preachers less holy often convert more than those who are holier do; as St. James living and preaching in Spain converted very few. Thus Christ here promises to Philadelphia the conversion of the Jews, which he denied, cap. ii. AND THOU HAST KEPT MY WORD (namely faith and the doctrine of the Gospel. Whence explaining it he adds), AND HAST NOT DENIED MY NAME, — as if to say: Although thou art of little strength, yet thou hast rightly weighed it, hast rightly used it, namely with me protecting and strengthening it: wherefore be strong and although thou hast not undergone the hard struggle of martyrdom, nor yet canst thou undergo it on account of the weakness of thy strength, yet thou hast not denied, nor been ashamed of my name, but hast confessed and professed it. Wherefore I, promoting thee and thy strength, will use them for great things, and will make it so that thou mayest convert the Jews. Whence it follows:
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9. BEHOLD I WILL GIVE OF THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN, THOSE WHO SAY THEY ARE JEWS, etc. — As if to say: I shall convert the Jews and Judaizers, who have their own synagogue, not of God, but of Satan, which conspires against Christ and Christians: the Jews, I say, I shall convert, and I shall give them to you as subjects, so that converted to Christ, they may adore, that is, fall down before your feet, and as suppliants to you, as to their Bishop, may wholly subject themselves. ADORE BEFORE YOUR FEET. — There is signified the supreme devotion, reverence and submission of the faithful toward the Church and its Prelates. For this adoration proceeds from the apprehension of the excellence of Prelates more than human, and less than divine. Thus Nebuchadnezzar, although a gentile, adored Daniel, when he had related and expounded his dream to him by divine spirit, Daniel II, 46. Thus the sons of the Prophets, hearing that the spirit of Elias had rested upon Eliseus, adored him prostrate on the ground, IV Kings II, 15. In like manner Abdias, the procurator of King Achab, adored the prophet Elias, III Kings xviii, 7. Thus "the most blessed Peter the fisherman, with knees bent down, is adored by a multitude of Gentiles," says St. Augustine, serm. 1 On SS. Peter and Paul. Thus formerly they would beseech the holy Confessors, saying: "We beseech you by your footsteps," in the manner of Magdalen, who prostrate at the feet of Christ, begged pardon for her sins, Luke vii, 38. Hear St. Chrysostom, homil. 11 on the Acts of the Apostles: The first faithful, he says, laid the prices of things at the feet of the Apostles, not at their hands, declaring the faith, piety and reverence which they had for the Apostles; and that they esteemed it greater to receive from them than to be given gifts by them. The same, homil. 59 to the People of Antioch, exhorts them to approach monks, and by kissing their feet to entreat them. "Approach," he says, "touch the feet of the saints. For it is much more honorable to touch their feet than the head of others. Tell me, if some seize the feet of statues, because they have only the figure of a king: will you not hold by the feet him who has Christ in himself, and be saved? The feet of the saints are holy, although they are vile: but the feet of the unclean are not even to be venerated. For the feet of the saints have been able to do great things; wherefore also they avenge themselves, when they shake off the dust with their feet." Isaiah foretold the same thing, cap. xlix, vers. 22: "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and shall lick up the dust of thy feet." See the words there.
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10. BECAUSE THOU HAST KEPT THE WORD OF MY PATIENCE. — "Word," that is, example, says Haymo and Bede. Secondly and properly, "word," that is, the precept and promise of my patience. For thus St. John in the Gospel often uses this phrase, "to keep the word," for to keep the law. By patience he understands both the tolerance of injuries and persecutions, and more properly the long-suffering endurance and perseverance in it. For this is what the Greek ὑπομονή signifies. The word "because" is to be referred to what follows, not to what precedes, as if he said: Because you have kept my commandment, by which namely I commanded that you bear patiently, with long-suffering and perseverance all persecutions on account of the hope of my aid and deliverance, and on account of the promise of an eternal crown, for this reason I shall give you the reward which I add, namely: I WILL KEEP THEE FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION, WHICH SHALL COME UPON THE WHOLE WORLD. — "From the hour," that is, from the time. For the time of temptation of this life, because it is brief, and like a passing storm, hence is called an "hour." He seems to speak of the time and persecution of Trajan, which was strong and universal, and blazed forth like fire, but soon ceased and passed by like a whirlwind. Concerning which Eusebius, lib. III Hist., cap. xxxii. Thus Ribera and Alcazar. Alcazar adds that the hour extends more widely among the Greeks, and signifies time absolutely. Hence they call the four seasons of the year the summer hour, the autumn hour, the winter hour, the spring hour. Thus they call the hour of youth the age of youth. He also alludes to and plays upon the word "word," as if to say: Because you have kept my word by faithful execution, I in turn, who am the Word of God, shall keep you by faithful protection, so that, when the weight of future persecution, on account of the small strength which you have, you cannot bear, I may remove it from you, lest it involve you with others. Thus Alcazar. Less correctly does Thomas the Englishman expound it, as if to say: I will keep you, not so that you are not tempted, but so that you are not overcome by temptation. For thus he should have said: "I will keep you in the hour." But now he says: "I will keep you from the hour."
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11. BEHOLD I COME QUICKLY, — to help thee and to crown thee: whence Rupert and Richard think that here is signified this Bishop soon to die. He therefore stirs him up to perseverance, proposing to him, first, the brevity of life; secondly, heavenly protection and aid; thirdly, an eternal crown. HOLD FAST THAT WHICH THOU HAST, THAT NO MAN TAKE THY CROWN. — The Arabic: Hold that which thou hast, and beware lest any man take thy crown. "Hold," that is, continue to hold, retain steadfastly. For "hold" signifies an act not begun but continued. For although this Bishop was to be immune from that great and universal temptation by God's protection, yet other lesser ones were not to be lacking to him, such as daily befall the life of man, and especially occurred to Christians at the beginning of the Church: "for temptation (in Greek πειρατήριον, that is, a place of temptation, a stadium and contest) is the life of man upon earth," says St. Job, cap. vii, vers. 1, according to the Septuagint. "Hold therefore that which thou hast," that is, retain faith and patience in whatever temptation and affliction may occur, lest anyone take the crown of thy faith and patience promised and prepared, not absolutely, but under condition (if namely thou persevere and continue steadfast), thee not persevering but falling, take it away. Beautifully Rupert: "Hold that which thou hast," as if to say, Thou stand firm on a steady foot in humility, lest with foot moved thou fall, and falling lose the crown prepared for thee, and another succeeding thee take it. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Already running and contending victoriously in the stadium of evangelical life and doctrine, thou almost holdest the crown, it is already as it were thine, because in thy hands, in thy power. See therefore that thou retain it steadfastly, and suffer it not to be snatched from thee by another. In like manner says St. Paul, I Cor. ix, 24: "So run that you may obtain." For he alludes to the custom of Athletes, who from some elevated place seized with the swiftest possible running the suspended crown with their hands, as Peter Faber learnedly proves, lib. II, cap. xxvii of the Agonistici. To which St. Chrysostom looked, homil. 7 in epist. ad Hebr.: "The prize still hangs." And Chrysologus, serm. 153 On the Infants slain for Christ: "They confess in silence, they fight unknowingly, they conquer unwittingly, they take up palms ignorantly, they seize crowns unknowingly." Cassiodorus finally, lib. XI Variar., cap. xxxv: "If the Olympian chariot driver snatches prizes after labors," Hence it is evident, first, that just and holy men, even those praised by God, can fall away from grace and virtue, and that no one is certain of his perseverance and salvation. Second, even the predestined can absolutely fall away from grace, because they can neglect the grace of predestination, and consequently not be chosen for glory, nor be crowned; although in the composite sense they cannot fall away, because completed predestination includes foreknowledge of perseverance, and consequently of salvation and glory. Thus St. Thomas, I part., Quest. XXIII. Third, "hold fast that which thou hast" suggests to this Bishop that his virtue was slight, as he said in verse 8, so that there was danger of his falling. Whence he admonishes him here to arm himself against this and strengthen himself through constancy. Thus Alcazar. Fourth, it is signified here that God is accustomed, when one falls, to substitute another in his place and reward. Thus He substituted men for angels, Christian peoples for Jews, Matthias for Judas. Indeed, Primasius, Bede, Ansbertus, and St. Augustine, lib. De Corrept. et Gratia, cap. xiii, collect from this that the number of the predestined is certain and definite, which can neither be increased nor diminished; and this not only formally, but materially, that is, not only that so many are to be saved, but also that these and those by name, not others, says the divine Thomas, I part., Quest. XXIII, art. 7. Understand this of completed predestination, which includes foreknowledge of the future perseverance of the saints and the elect. Otherwise, if you speak of inchoate predestination, and abstract from foreknowledge of perseverance, neither formally nor materially is the number of the elect certain and definite, as is evident from this place: "Hold fast that which thou hast." For the sense is, as if to say, You can fall away by your choice; see that you do not fall. Yet Primasius, Bede, Ansbertus, and St. Augustine, in the place cited, seem to wish the contrary, namely, that at least formally before foreknowledge the number of the elect is certain, for example, that precisely so many crowns are decreed, so that if one be taken from one, it be given to another. For this seems to be said here. For the good, the more common it is, the more divine it is, says Alcazar. And so, he says, God, as the wisest architect, before all things defined and designed in His mind the fabric of the heavenly Church, namely, that in it there shall be precisely saints and elect, as living stones, neither more nor fewer; and in this is seen His most exact and wisest disposition, and the apt proportion to the thing destined. Just as therefore in a material building the number of stones is prior in the mind of the architect to the choice of this or that stone; but the rejection of this or that stone is conjoined with the substitution of another in its place, which, while it was being cut or polished, was found to be useless: so in the spiritual building of the heavenly city, the number of the elect is prior to the intention of the salvation of this or that man; and the rejection of him who was called and justified is always conjoined with the substitution of another. Thus he himself. But I answer that this does not always happen, but sometimes, namely when someone succeeds another in office: as here, when one Bishop died, another succeeded him in office, and consequently in the crown, if the other had fallen from it. Otherwise indeed God, who called all to these crowns, prepared for each his own. For God prepared and adorned not men for crowns, but crowns for men; for the crown is on account of man, not man on account of the crown. It is different in a house: there indeed the stone is on account of the house, not the house on account of the stone. Add that the architect first indeed designates the parts of the house in general, but not in particular, as for example that there be in it so many stones precisely, no more: for this is impossible. In like manner God also acts: namely He destined in His mind from eternity, that in the heavenly Jerusalem there should be so many orders of Angels and Saints in general, for example that in it there should be a choir of Prophets, a choir of Apostles, a choir of Martyrs, Bishops, Confessors, Virgins, etc. But He did not destine that there should be so many Prophets precisely in it, no more; so many Virgins and Martyrs, no more. For this is too narrow and minute, as to befit that supreme majesty, and its liberality and common providence. For what beauty would be wanting to the order of Prophets, if one be in it in greater or lesser number, as they wish, appointed by God? What would be added to the choir of Virgins, Confessors, Monks, Martyrs, if in it there be precisely one hundred million virgins? What would be wanting, if in this number one or another be lacking? Christ proposes to all these choirs, and their rewards, invites all to them, shows to all their crowns here. He wills therefore not only that all be saved, but also that to these noble crowns with great virtue, and by his victory each one, with none excluded, strive. Therefore not those contending for crowns, but crowns He adapted and predestined for those contending and conquering. Not therefore so many crowns precisely, for example one hundred million, did He predestine; but in general and in common He predestined, that there should be so many crowns as there should be future victors in his struggle and contest. In like manner a king and prince about to build a new city, first describes the general idea of the city, for example that in such a place be a forum, in such a temple, in such a civic building; that there be so many streets, such a circuit of walls, etc. But he does not describe individual houses in particular. Again he describes individual offices and crafts necessary in the city, but not individual citizens. Finally if any official, or craftsman necessary to the city should fail, he would take care to appoint another in his place. Thus God also acted in His predestination, by which He described the first idea of the Church both militant and triumphant. Whence if any Bishop (as was this one of Philadelphia), Pastor, or other necessary or very useful to the Church should fail, He soon takes care to appoint another in his place, especially if the faithful, or the Church itself petition and pray for this. Thus when from forty Martyrs cast into a frozen pool for the faith of Christ, one, unable to bear the force of the cold, should fail, and should leap out of the pool, soon in his place He appointed a guardian of the Martyrs, because the Martyrs themselves had besought this. For the prayer of all was one, says St. Basil, homily 20: "Forty we entered into the stadium, forty also, O Lord, grant us to be crowned, let not even one be wanting to this number. This number is held in honor, which thou hast adorned with a forty-day fast, as also Moses and Elias." Wherefore God hearing them, raised up a doorkeeper, who, beholding those praying, and surrounded with light, and the ice dissolved, and certain angels descending from heaven as if sent by a king, who would distribute crowns to the forty soldiers, thus spoke to himself: "Forty these are, where is the fortieth crown?" While he ponders this, he sees one, whose spirit had failed to bear the cold, go out into the neighboring bath, which the tyrant had ordered to be prepared for those failing. Wherefore he himself, having stripped off his garments, professing himself a Christian, leaped into the frozen water, and became a Martyr, and received the crown which the fortieth had lost. Thus St. Francis, at the beginning of his Order, when there were few, and some were falling away, so that Francis feared lest the Order should fail or be greatly depressed and grow too slowly, and therefore he greatly afflicted himself and besought the Lord to avert this, heard from Him: "Why art thou troubled, Francis, or why art thou anxious, when one of thy brethren either deserts the Order, or stirs up scandal in the Order? Dost thou perhaps think that I have constituted thee rector of this flock in such a way that thou understandest not that I am its superior rector? Who planted it, if not I? Or who besides me calls men to penance, or supplies strength to those called to persevere? I have led them, I will retain and preserve them; when they fall, I will raise up others and substitute them in their place, and if one returns to his vomit, I will raise up another in his place who shall receive his crown; and if he has not yet been born, I will cause him to be born. But if only three shall remain in it, I myself will never forsake them, but this shall always be my family." Thus St. Bonaventure relates it, namely that God granted this both to the prayers of St. Francis, and to the Order itself instituted by Him, and to His Church, to which this Order, as also the others, is most useful. Wherefore we perceive the wonderful providence of God in preserving through so many ages the religious Orders, and always propagating them, and when one declines substituting another in its place. Thus when some weak, timid and inconstant ones fell away in martyrdom, God, that He might protect the honor of faith, and glory, and His Church, soon substituted others, who offered themselves for martyrdom in place of those who failed, and received their crown. A notable example is found in the Life of St. Nicephorus the Martyr, 9 February. For she offered herself for martyrdom in place of Sapritius who failed, and received his crown. For when Sapritius, a presbyter of Antioch, after tolerating many torments bravely, was condemned to death for the sake of faith under the Emperor Valerian, and was now about to receive the blow of the sword, Nicephorus met him, with whom he had enmities; and when Nicephorus repeatedly asked him to forgive him and be reconciled with him, he stubbornly refused, and would not grant him forgiveness of the offense. Wherefore God withdrew His grace from him: so that it came to pass that he denied the faith and Christ, and was released free. Which seeing, Nicephorus, and groaning, generously offered himself to the torturers for the faith of Christ, and being condemned by the Prefect, he merited the laurel of martyrdom by humility and charity, which Sapritius lost on account of his pride and harshness by the just judgment of God. Finally, thus God substituted David for the failing Saul, Cyprian for Tertullian, Cyril for Origen, Jerome for Rufinus, Augustine for Pelagius. Let each one therefore stir himself up with this sharp spur to the contest of virtue, and say to himself continually: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no other may receive thy crown." Thus St. Alexander stirred himself up, saying: "Woe to thee, Alexander! how great shall be thy confusion, when others shall be crowned." Again: "Under the fathers nudity and humility flourished; but in us avarice and pride. Alas for me, my children, because we have destroyed a truly angelic conversation." Likewise, to him saying and excusing himself: "Father, we are weak;" let him answer: "Believe, my son, the athletes are strong in body and robust; but our soul is weak." Thus Sophronius relates, or rather Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter CLXVIII. Moreover this statement, "Hold fast what thou hast," favors that opinion of the Theologians which asserts that God chooses no one absolutely to heavenly glory except after foreseeing merits. Whence also Christ in all these epistles of his promises this glory to none except to him that overcometh. For which reason Gabriel Vasquez, I part., Quest. XXIII, disp. 89, cap. x: "If election," says he, "to glory had been made before foreseeing merits, it would be in vain that it should be said to the elect: Hold fast what thou hast, lest another take thy crown. For if no one had it so in his hand that he could lose it, he would rightly answer that it was deposited in the hand of God, from which neither could any other snatch it, nor could the elect himself lose it. For if God has the key, and so closes that no one can open; and opens, so that no one can close: rightly thus the door of hell will be closed to the elect, and the door of the kingdom of heaven opened, so that it will not be in their power to close the opened door to themselves and to open the closed one: wherefore it will not be free to them, with the doors of hell closed, to enter in; but on the contrary with the door of the kingdom of heaven opened to them, no one will hinder them, if they wish to enter, in whatever manner they have lived in this life." For the decree of God is prior, inviolable and ineluctable, and must necessarily be fulfilled, whatever thou doest. Wherefore he who is chosen to glory absolutely before foreseeing merits does not seem to remain free, so that he could lose it and bring damnation upon himself; but necessarily from the efficacious decree of God he will be saved, and it will be impossible for him to be damned, whatever he does. For he cannot shake off the decree of God from himself, even if he himself be ignorant of it. Just as a sick man powerless to walk is truly not able, nor free to walk, even if he himself be ignorant of his powerlessness and think himself able. Again, just as he to whom God withdraws His concurrence is not free, nor able to act, even if he himself be ignorant of it and think himself able and free: so also this elect one, by the efficacious and absolute decree of God to beatify him, efficaciously destined and bound to beatitude, does not seem to be able, nor free to shake it off, and to precipitate himself into hell, even though he himself, ignorant of God's decree concerning him, be ignorant that he is powerless and think himself able and free. But these things are to be disputed elsewhere.
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12. HE THAT SHALL OVERCOME, I WILL MAKE HIM A PILLAR IN THE TEMPLE OF MY GOD, — as if to say: I will make it so that he who remains steadfast in virtue and overcomes all temptations shall be great and glorious both in the Church and in heaven. He alludes to the two pillars of the temple, Boaz and Jachin, concerning which III Kings vii, as Viegas shows at length here, sect. 8, and Alcazar, note 1, where he contends that these two pillars of Solomon were as it were trophies of the victories of David erected, in imitation of the two pillars which Hercules (who preceded Solomon by two hundred years) fixed in the Pillars of Hercules, with this inscription: Plus ultra; and that they prefigured that wisdom was to be joined to holiness (for these are the two pillars of the Church) in the Church of Christ. For Boaz in Hebrew means the same as in strength; Jachin means the same as he shall prepare. Boaz therefore signifies the instrument, Jachin the efficacy. In evangelical preaching, moreover, who does not see that wisdom is as it were the instrument, while holiness is that which gives efficacy to the word? Thus pillars were erected over the Maccabees in their tombs, as trophies of victories, I Maccabees cap. xiii, vers. 29. Thus in Rome we see the columns of Trajan and Antoninus, as trophies, on which all their deeds and victories are carved. And Trajan's column is indeed 120 feet high, so thick that six men with arms extended in a circle can scarcely embrace it; and within, by means of a spiral staircase one ascends from bottom to top, as if it were a tower. Whence Richard of St. Victor, in the first place, thus expounds it, as if to say: I will make it so that he who overcomes persecutions and temptations, "shall be a pillar, that is, shall be firm in himself through faith, upright through justice, erect through intention, sublime through contemplation, sustaining others by the word of consolation, by the aid of prayer, by the example of action." And Primasius: "A pillar," he says, "is fitting in buildings and fortifications, and for ornament. So also the conquerors of the world stand out in the Church in the office of dignity, and bear others in the duty of charity." Thus Ribera explains this pillar of the Church triumphant; but Ticonius, Haymo, Bede, Andrew, Arethas, Anselm and Alcazar explain it of the Church militant, which latter proves it by many arguments. Secondly, Ambrose: "I will make," he says, "him a pillar, that is a preacher in the Church, as Paul called Peter, James, and John pillars in Galatians ii, 9." But because Origen, Tertullian and others, who were as it were pillars, fell, Ambrose better says: "I will make him a pillar," that is I will make him exalted in heaven, from which he shall go out no more. Thirdly, Abbot Joachim: "I will make him a pillar," that is a Prelate: for he first, with his body touches the earth, with his mind heaven; secondly, through the active life he clings to inferiors, and yet through the contemplative he looks upward; thirdly, he is polished by many tribulations; fourthly, Prelates amid the stormy tempests of temptations tirelessly bear the machine of those committed to their care; fifthly, they are tranquil and immovable. Pererius notes: In a pillar eight things are observed and praised, namely straightness, height, thickness, firmness, roundness, smoothness, color and material: which are easily accommodated to a Preacher, a Prelate and any excellent Saint in the Church, and especially in heaven, where these Saints as pillars subject to no change shall stand exalted and glorious for eternity. Finally, to this Bishop, who was of modest virtue, the solidity of a pillar is promised, if he strives to advance toward it, if he aspires and endeavors, and labors to the best of his ability to obtain it, invoking the grace of God and cooperating strenuously with it. Such a pillar was made by God Jeremiah, cap. i, vers. 18, when he heard from him: "Behold I have made thee a fortified city, and a pillar of iron." See the remarks there. AND SHALL GO OUT NO MORE. — "Out," namely outside the Church, because by the gift of constancy and perseverance which I shall give him, he shall persevere firmly, as if to say: Thus will I confirm him in virtue, and establish him, so that no force can impel him, as a pillar, or disturb or move him from his place and rank. Secondly and rather, as if to say: I will establish him in heavenly glory and beatitude, so that "out," that is outside it, he shall go no more for all eternity. For the word "more" does not signify that someone has gone out of the Church or heaven, but that henceforth he shall never go out of it, whereas before he was able to go out, namely before he was made a pillar. Thus it is taken by the Septuagint in Acts xiii, 34, when it is said that Christ shall return no more to corruption, although Christ was never corrupted, but could have been corrupted, if you consider the fragility of the body and the natural course. Otherwise Alcazar: By the temple, he says, is signified the worship and service of God. The streets and the gates signify the occupations of the outer man, as if to say: I will give him strength and constancy of virtue, and that firmness of devotion, so that he may consecrate himself entirely to God, and subject all his actions to the service of God, so that he may not only refrain from placing any time and any action in some other matter, but may never even turn his thought away from God and divine things. Such was St. Anna, who, as Luke says in chapter ii, verse 37, "Did not depart from the temple, serving with fastings and prayers night and day." For many are there, even pious and religious, who scarcely give a third part of the day to God, and in the remaining hours think it permitted to them to go forth from the temple, and to be idle without sin, or to conduct business as they please. But he whom the virtue of Christ and the ardor of devotion has made a pillar, not only thereafter does not wish to go forth from the temple (that is, to be free for any matter except God, or for the sake of God), but he seems unable even to attend to any other matter, or to think of anything other than the service of God and of his neighbor. This sense is pious, but rather moral than literal. Such a conqueror, such a pillar was St. Vincent the Martyr, who, when his whole body was torn by Dacian the governor, smiled and said: "This is what I myself have desired with all my heart; therefore no one has ever been more desirable to me than you yourself, nor has my soul ever rendered greater service: for although you do this with hostile intent, nevertheless you confer the greatest benefit upon me. Behold how I ascend to sublime things: behold how I touch heavenly matters: behold how I despise your emperors. If you do not cease from your cruelty, you will bring me a more abundant victory, for by enduring greater torments I shall overcome you yourself; rage therefore against me, lest you diminish my glory: by whatever tortures you think to vex me, you yourself shall be vexed more bitterly." He spoke, and he made it good, for rebuking the torturers: "Why," he said, "have you become slower and weaker in torturing me? Act, match the cruelty of your prince, so that in every respect he may make himself ridiculous as soon as possible." While they raged and exercised upon him every kind of punishment, he exulted as if at a feast, so that the torturers themselves were struck with amazement. In him Christ showed how powerful his grace is, how victorious and triumphant over all torments, terrors, and likewise blandishments; and how he makes men resolved and offering themselves to God for all hardships invincible and immovable like pillars. Illustrous therefore in victory both in name and in fact was St. Vincent, concerning whom St. Augustine, in sermon 12 On the Saints, says: "Why," he says, "do we marvel, dearest ones, if Vincent conquered in him by whom the world was conquered? In this world you shall have tribulation, so that if it presses, it may not oppress; if it assails, it may not overcome. The world brings forth a twofold line of battle against the soldiers of Christ. It flatters to deceive, it terrifies to break. Let not our own will hold us, let not the cruelty of another terrify us, and the world is conquered. So great was the cruelty raging upon the Martyr's body, and so great was the tranquility shown forth in his voice, and so great was the harshness of punishments raging in his limbs, that in a wonderful way we might think that while Vincent suffered, another was being tortured. The flesh therefore suffered, and the spirit spoke. But now, brothers, all those things have passed away, both the anger of Dacian and the punishment of Vincent. Now indeed punishment remains for Dacian, but a crown for Vincent." And in sermon 43: "By the draught of which (the spirit and chalice of Christ in the Eucharist; for Vincent was his Deacon and dispenser), happily made drunk in mind, he approached the madness of the rabid enemy and one raging against Christ, endured it modestly, scorned it securely. Therefore neither the glowing plates of the frying pan, nor the rack, nor iron claws and hand, nor the strength of those feared who beat, nor the pain of torn limbs, nor the roar of the fire and the noise of salt injected into the patient's entrails, could in any way compel Dacian to subject him to his command. But from whence he appeared to come forth as victor, thence he was forced to blush as vanquished, because the harder the Martyr of God was pressed by punishment, the more abundantly did he exult in the constancy of his confession. Seeing himself despised, he raged, and found no one against whom he could inflict vengeance. For he saw the hands of the executioners ceasing to rage finding more wound than body in him, and only reproaching him with his great spirit its own folly, in that it provoked the standard of truth." Hear also Prudentius, Peristephanon, hymn 5 On St. Vincent, thus recounting his words to Dacian: Torments, prison, claws, / And the blade hissing in flames, / And death itself, the ultimate / Of punishments, is sport to Christians. And when he was being tortured most severely: The soldier of God laughed at these things, / Moving his bloodstained hands, / Because the nail fixed / Did not penetrate the limbs more deeply. And below: O most unconquered soldier, / Stronger than the very strong, / Now even the cruel and harsh / Torments tremble at you as victor. / Christ God, the spectator, / Compensates this with endless age, / And with his own hand, colleague of the cross, / Crowns you with abundant reward. Among the Confessors, St. Victor was illustrious both in deed and in name, concerning whom St. Bernard, in his second sermon on him, says: "O renowned Victor, you who have triumphed most gloriously both from the earth and from heaven, nobly despising the glory of the latter and piously seizing the kingdoms of the former; look down from heaven upon those bound on earth, so that this may be the consummation of your triumphs, if we too finally feel that you have conquered for us. For if your name comes from the thing itself, the perfect truth of the name will be reckoned from our liberation; and certainly the interpretation is lacking as long as we who are yours are not at all freed. How pious, how sweet, how pleasant, O Victor, in this place of affliction and in this body of death to sing of you, to honor you, to pray to you! May your name and memorial be a vessel distilling upon the lips of captives, honey and milk under the tongue of those who delight in the memory of you. Come then, strong athlete, sweet patron, faithful advocate, arise to help us, so that we too may rejoice in our deliverance, and you may glory in complete victory. Almighty Father, we have sinned against you, made children of a stranger, but we have drawn near in Victor, who, while he conquered his own desire, may conquer also your wrath, and powerfully restore us to favor. O victor Jesus, we praise you in our Victor, because we know that you have conquered in him. Grant him, most merciful Jesus, so to glory in his victory in you that the memory of us may not escape him. Son of God, cause him always to have us in remembrance before you, and in your dreadful judgment to take up and defend our cause." AND I WILL WRITE UPON HIM. — He persists in the metaphor of a column (whence it can be translated from the Greek, upon it): for columns are accustomed to have inscribed upon them titles and names of victors, or of those to whom they are erected and dedicated, as we see here in Rome on the column of Trajan, and on the arch of Titus, Severus and Constantine. THE NAME OF MY GOD, AND THE NAME OF THE CITY OF MY GOD, THE NEW JERUSALEM, etc., AND MY NEW NAME. — This name, says Ambrose, is eternal being, or being a partaker of eternity and of the eternal vision of God, which Jerusalem signifies. Secondly, to be in the society of Angels and the Blessed, who are called the heavenly Jerusalem. So also Andrew of Caesarea. Thirdly, Rupertus: The name of God is the name of the father; the name of Jerusalem is the name of the mother, of whom the Apostle says, Galatians IV, 26: "That Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother," that is to say, Whoever has been victorious in obedience to the will of God over the world, the flesh and the devil, him will I honor with the insignia of the title of father and mother, as if he were my father and my mother, according to that saying of Christ: "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother," Matthew cap. XII, vers. 50. To this Joachim adds: I will make it so that he is called father by his own, just as Religious call their superiors Abbots, and laypeople call priests Popes, that is, fathers; so that they may be like Abraham, to whom it was said: "I have made you a father of many nations." Thus St. Anthony, Hilarion, Benedict have the name "Abbot," that is, father. In like manner I will make it so that he is called mother, like Paul, who says in Galatians cap. IV: "My little children, whom I am again bringing forth." Fourth and most excellently, he alludes to columns, in which princes erecting them took care to have their names inscribed, by which they signified that these columns were dear, precious and glorious to them, as if to say: I will ascribe him to my sons and elect in heaven, so that he may be an inhabitant of heaven and a citizen of the angels: so that it be a hypallage, such as that one: "The name of the Lord is invoked upon us," that is, we are called servants and sons of the Lord. Thus here it is said: "I will write upon him the name of God, and of the new Jerusalem," in place of what would be said: "I will write his name in the book of God, and of the new Jerusalem," namely I will write him in the book of life in heaven, so that he may be a citizen of the Saints, and a member of God's household. Or rather plainly and simply, as if to say: I will make this man, so solid and illustrious in virtue, a column, so that he may be an honor and glory both to God, and to the Church, and to Christ the great, so that he himself may be as it were a trophy, erected by Christ for the honor and glory of God the victor and of the Church. For as many as shall behold him and his so holy customs, will say that he is a column of God, of the Church and of Christ; so that it may appear that he bears written on his forehead: This is a column, nay a trophy, of God, Christ and the Church; because in him shone forth, and is proposed to all as it were for reading, the greatness of the grace and virtue of God. It is a catachresis: for it is said to be written, which becomes so conspicuous and illustrious, as if it were written on the forehead. Thus Alcazar, whose learned and pious senses, but more diffuse than that they could be read by many, here and elsewhere, for the sake of readers, I have compressed into a few words. Note: Christ here repeats three times my God, to signify the immense reverence and delights of his love toward the Father on account of so many benefits, both to himself, as he is man, and to his faithful ones conferred through himself. For the heart of Christ was full of remembrance, thanksgiving, and love of God his Father, so that he could think of nothing else; inasmuch as he alone was honored and loved by the Father as his natural son, whereas all others, both men and angels, are his adopted ones; and conversely, he alone loved the Father as a natural father, as it were his only-begotten. Again, through this Christ stirs up the hope of the Church and of the faithful, that through him they will easily obtain from the Father all things which they ask. For the Father loves the Son most highly, as also the Son loves the Father. Note: The Church, both militant on earth and triumphant in the heavens, is called "Jerusalem," that is the city of God (or the vision of peace); "new," with respect to men, to whom it was unknown in former ages, namely in the law both of Moses and of nature. The same is said to descend from heaven, both because literally, in its origin it is heavenly. For it was born in the heavens and produced by God; whence it itself appears to descend from the heavens to earthly men, when it makes them heavenly and blessed, of which more in chapter XXI, verse 1. And because mystically, it always descends with Christ through humility, against the proud Lucifer, who, puffed up with arrogance, said: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God," says Joachim. Otherwise Maldonatus in the Brief Notes written by his own hand, which we have in the Roman college: It is said, he says, that the new Jerusalem descends from heaven, that is, is founded, to have such high foundations, that they descend from heaven to earth, or because it appears from heaven as if descending, or because it approaches and comes, chapter XXI, verse 2. AND MY NAME NEW. — The new name of Christ is Jesus; for this was imposed upon him new in circumcision, says St. Thomas, III part., Question XXXVII, article 2, as if to say: In the victors, as in columns, the name of Jesus will be inscribed, so that it may be signified that they are erected through Jesus, have obtained all grace and victory through Jesus, and therefore will be called by excellence Jesuits, that is, sons and clients of Jesus. Thus Pererius, Ribera, Viegas, nay Hugo, who was the first from the Order of Preachers to be elected to the college of Cardinals, and from it Landulphus the Carthusian before 260 years, part I of the Life of Christ, chapter X: "In heavenly glory," he says, "we shall be called by him Jesuits," that is, saved by the Savior. This therefore new name, is the name of Jesus Christ, the sanctifier on earth, the beatifier in heaven, which Christ both before his passion, and in it, and especially after it obtained, when from the heavens he sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the faithful, so that he might sanctify them and through them the whole world in this life, and glorify them in the future. Moreover this new name pertains both to the glory of the faithful, and more properly to the glory of Christ; for in these faithful, as it were in columns erected by Christ, the grace, strength and triumph of Christ shine forth, which founded and established these columns, so that they might overcome all storms and tempests; so that in them the name and title of Christ, as it were inscribed, nay engraved, may appear. Thus of Christ the Apostle says, Philip. II, 9: "For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names;" a name, I say, both of Redeemer and Savior, and of Lord and Monarch of the world. Whence it follows: "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth." See the things said there.
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14. AND TO THE ANGEL OF LAODICEA WRITE. — This is the seventh and last epistle of Christ to the Bishop of Laodicea, and under his person to any Prelates and lukewarm faithful. "Most celebrated," says Pliny, lib. V, cap. XXIX, "is the city of Laodicea: it is situated on the river Lycus, with the Asopus and Caprus rivers flowing along its sides, first called Diospolis, then Rhoas." It was founded by Antiochus, son of Stratonice, and named Laodicea in honor of his wife Laodice, as if λαῶν δίκη, that is, the judgment of peoples, that is, judge, namely a prince of peoples, to whom he would administer justice and enact laws. Hence, vers. 17, it boasts of itself as rich and in need of nothing. It was therefore a very great city of Phrygia, near Colossae; whence St. Paul, Coloss. cap. IV, vers. 16, says: "When this epistle shall have been read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you read that which is for the Laodiceans." You may ask: Who was this Bishop? Aureolus thinks it was St. Sagaris, Bishop, who underwent a noble martyrdom at Laodicea about the year of Christ 172, whom Eusebius praises, lib. V Hist., cap. XXIV: "What," he says, "is the need to speak of Sagaris, Bishop and Martyr, who fell asleep at Laodicea?" But it is an obstacle that Eusebius and the ancients commend St. Sagaris for his sanctity and zeal. This Angel, however, is reproved by Christ in many things, and is praised in none. For he hears: "Thou art lukewarm: and knowest not that thou art miserable, and pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Thus Lyra, Pererius and Alcazar: unless one should say that Sagaris was such at first, but warned by Christ came to his senses, as the Angel at Ephesus came to his senses, of whom I spoke cap. II, vers. 1. THESE THINGS SAITH AMEN. — In Greek ὁ ἀμήν, that is, He who is Amen, that is, stable, true, constant, faithful, and himself stability, truth and faithfulness. "Amen" therefore here is not an adverb, as Primasius and Ambrose wish, but a name, or epithet of Christ, as also in Isaiah LXV, 16, where He is called "God Amen," that is, the true God; and II Corinth. I, 18 and 19. See the things said there. Moreover, Christ is here called "Amen," not only as God, as if to say, Thus speaks Christ, who is God, whose epithet is Amen, that is, true, or truth itself; but rather as man, because as man He was truthful and faithful, both in His doctrine and testimony, which He bore to truth, and in His promises. He is called therefore "Amen," because He is "a faithful and true witness," as is explained by what is added below. But why does Christ here alone call Himself "Amen" and a faithful witness, and not in the other epistles to the other Bishops? Some answer, because this Bishop doubted of Christ's promises, and therefore fell into lukewarmness, which Christ here reproves, and recalls him to fervor by repeated promises, and therefore sets before him and impresses upon him above all his own faithfulness. But whether this Bishop doubted of Christ's promises is uncertain; it is more certain that he did not esteem these promises of Christ sufficiently, did not consider them, did not weigh them as much as was fitting; for if he had weighed them as he ought, he would not have become lukewarm. For all lukewarmness in the service of God arises from the fact that a man does not sufficiently consider and esteem who God is, what and how great are His promises as well as His threats. Alcazar gives another probable cause. Christ prefaces, he says, an assurance of His faithfulness and truthfulness, because He is about to say to this Bishop certain things which seem less credible, namely, that it is better to be cold than lukewarm, that this Bishop is miserable and pitiable, and that to such a one He promises such great things, namely, that He will dine with him, and will place him on His own throne. WHO IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD. — That is to say, Christ, who is the efficient and exemplary cause of created things (from which, namely, the beginning is drawn by all things made), and especially of things restored, namely of men redeemed through His death. Whence in Isaiah IX, 6, He is called "the Father of the world to come." And the Apostle in Galatians VI, 15, Ephesians VI, 10, Colossians III, 10, calls the faithful a new creation, namely of Christ. For thus he says to the Ephesians: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them." For the faithful in baptism, or penance, are as it were regenerated by Christ, and become new men, and receive as it were a new divine being, so that they may be called and truly be a new creation of God, namely worshipping and glorifying God; in Christ therefore is our true life, and "without Christ all that we live is vain," says St. Jerome to Heliodorus. Thus Ribera, Rupertus and Alcazar, who also adds that there is an allusion here to that in chapter I, Beginning and end; but the end is omitted, because this Bishop had not attained the end, that is the perfection, of this new creation, as he himself thought, but scarcely even the beginning, on account of his lukewarmness. Secondly, for beginning in Greek is ἀρχή, which signifies both principality and beginning; as if he said: Who, namely Christ, holds principality over all creatures. Thus from Andrew of Caesarea through Pererius. The Arians therefore wrongly interpreted that Christ, as the Word of God and Son, is the beginning, that is, is the first creature, both in duration and dignity. For this is repugnant to Holy Scripture, which teaches elsewhere that the Son is not a creature, but the Word coeternal and consubstantial with the Father, and is Himself God Amen, as Isaiah asserts in the place already cited.
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15. WOULD THAT YOU WERE COLD, OR HOT (ζεστός, that is, fervent); BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE LUKEWARM, AND NEITHER COLD NOR HOT, I WILL BEGIN TO VOMIT YOU OUT OF MY MOUTH. — The Arabic version translates: Would that you were cold water, or were hot water! because you are thus lukewarm water, and you are not hot water, and you are not cold water. For lukewarm water is vomited, and provokes the vomiting of food. To this, therefore, this Bishop is here compared. You will ask: Who are called here hot, cold, lukewarm, or rather are compared to hot water, cold water, lukewarm water? First, Richard, Bede, Arethas, Ambrose, sermon 2 on Psalm CXVIII: The cold, he says, are the unfaithful, who sin through ignorance; worse than these are the lukewarm, that is, faithful sinners, because sin, for example lust, is more grave in the faithful than in the unfaithful. Second, Victorinus holds that the cold are heretics; the hot, Catholics; the lukewarm, politicians, who for their own advantages now pretend to be heretics, now Catholics. Third, Primasius: The cold, he says, are those who have no resources which they distribute to the poor; the hot, those who have and distribute; the lukewarm, those who have and do not distribute. Thus also Ticonius and Andrew, who says that this Bishop was beset by the thorns of riches. Fourth, The Commentary inscribed with the name of St. Ambrose thinks the lukewarm are the faithful who neglect to work well, and hope for salvation from faith or knowledge alone. Thus also the true St. Ambrose on Psalm CXVIII. Salvian, book IV On Providence, and St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Ascension, which is inscribed On Understanding and Affection. Again St. Gregory, part III of the Pastoral, chapter XXXV, and Thomas the Englishman, interpret as lukewarm him who does not complete what he began well, and, as Origen says, homily 1 on Psalm XXXVIII, who grew sluggish after a good beginning. Fifth, St. Gregory, XXXIV Morals, II, says: Hot is he who has charity; cold is he who exists in mortal sin, but acknowledges his fault; lukewarm is he who is in sin, but does not acknowledge it, and by hypocrisy pretends to be good. Sixth, Haymo and Ansbertus: The cold, they say, are seculars; the hot, fervent monks; the lukewarm are those who have the habit of a monk, but the mind and morals of seculars. See Haymo and Cassian, Collation IV, chapter XIX. Whence some explain it thus, as if to say: Would that Religious were either seculars, or zealous for the Religious life which they have professed! For in secular life the sins which are graver in a Religious would be less grave. Seventh, Joachim: Hot is he who joyfully and cheerfully rejoices in the Lord through His mercy; cold is he who grieves in himself for his sins; lukewarm is he who is neither sad through penance nor joyful in obedience to God. Thus also St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: The hot, he says, are those who burn with charity toward good works; the cold are the weak and sinners, but sad, humble and penitent. Or the hot are those whom the love of God moves; the cold, those whom fear of punishments restrains from sins; the lukewarm, those who have neither of these, who neither love nor fear God. Eighth, Rupert and Pererius: The lukewarm here are the proud, who please themselves and presume on themselves, and persuade themselves that they are good, and live securely, as if needing nothing, fearing nothing. Whence it follows: "You say that you are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and you know not that you are wretched, and miserable." These are worse than the cold, that is, manifest sinners. Whence Rupert, accommodating these things to a proud virgin, explains thus, as if to say: "Would that you were rather corrupted and humble!" Hence St. Augustine, sermon 53 On the Words of the Lord: "I dare," he says, "to say that it is expedient for the proud continent to fall." And book XIV On the City of God, chapter XIII: "I dare," he says, "to say that it is useful for the proud to fall into some open and manifest sin, from which they may displease themselves, they who had already fallen by pleasing themselves." He adds examples: "For it was more salutary for Peter to displease himself when he wept, than to please himself when he presumed. This the sacred Psalmist also says, Psalm LXXXII: Fill their faces with shame, and they shall seek your name, O Lord, that is, so that you may please them seeking your name, who had pleased themselves seeking their own." This also the Wise Man says, Proverbs XVI, 18: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." The same Augustine, book I On the City of God, chapter XXVIII, teaches that God permitted the Barbarians laying waste Rome and other cities to violate Christian virgins, either because they themselves were proud, or because there was danger lest on account of chastity, etc., they should become proud. "To their," he says, "swelling a remedy was applied, to these a remedy was applied to the impending danger." Ninth, he is lukewarm who wavers between virtues and vices, and who would indeed wish to live by virtue and avoid sins, but shrinks from the struggle with vices and the labor of virtue. Thus Haymo, Anselmus, Lyranus and Cassianus, Collat. IV, cap. XII and XIX. Following these, Alcazar says: He is lukewarm, he says, who does not dare to offend God mortally, knowing and willing it, and therefore thinks himself just, but neglects the study of a purer and more perfect life; whence he easily permits himself to be carried away by his own concupiscences, and devours whatever sins appear to him to be venial only. Although he may be able to be in a state of grace, if namely a grave temptation of concupiscence does not befall him, yet easily, when it does befall him, he falls into mortal sin; whence he is in great danger of sin and damnation, and often among so many occasions with which this life is full, he actually falls into mortal sin, as this Bishop had fallen. Therefore this Laodicean differs from the Sardian, namely the lukewarm from the cold, in that the Sardian through wickedness, namely through deliberate negligence in his office and pastoral care, knowing and willing it, had sinned mortally; but this Laodicean, enticed by his own concupiscence, through lukewarmness did not notice that he was offending God, and yet fell away from His grace: whence he is called blind. For although he knew himself to be lukewarm, yet he did not see the magnitude of his danger on account of this lukewarmness; and he does not acknowledge his fall and the misery of his condition arising from it. This explanation seems genuine, and the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth expositions can easily be adapted to it and reconciled with it. For the first three expositions seem little apt and impertinent. Whence note: Although in itself it is worse to be cold and to remain in coldness than to be lukewarm tending toward coldness; just as it is worse to sin knowingly from freedom than unknowingly from lukewarmness and concupiscence (for this is being lukewarm, that is being cold); yet this lukewarmness is here condemned in preference to coldness, and it is said to be more desirable that the Bishop of Laodicea be cold than lukewarm, because lukewarmness first is more dangerous than coldness, both on account of greater forgetfulness and negligence, from which he does not notice his danger, but rests secure in it and falls asleep; and on account of the danger of abandonment by God. For God, who is a consuming fire, and wishes to be served by the Seraphim, hates this lukewarmness, and withdraws His grace from the lukewarm, and permits him to sleep deeply, and thus to fall and rush into the abyss. The sin of the lukewarm is indeed in itself lighter, but more dangerous; and therefore Christ says to him here: "I would thou wert cold or hot!" which Thomas Anglicus, explaining, says: "The discourse is concerning the cold, not as to coldness and guilt, but as to a greater facility of disposition," because the cold is more apt and disposed to amendment than the lukewarm, who by his lukewarmness is easily about to rush into the depths of sin and hell. And the Gloss says: "He does not wish," it says, "him to be cold simply, but such a one concerning whom greater hope may be held." For, as Cassianus excellently says, Collat. IV, cap. XIX: "We have frequently seen the cold and carnal, that is the worldly and Pagans, come to spiritual fervor; of the lukewarm and animal we have never seen this." Christ therefore here shows to the Bishop of Laodicea, and to all Prelates, and to the faithful, especially to Religious, how great is the danger in lukewarmness, and in how dangerous, and to falling and ruin inclined and prone a state the lukewarm are situated, who shrink from the study of discipline and of a more perfect life, and languish in it and as it were are nauseated by it. Therefore this lukewarmness is condemned, not only because it is contrary to the stomach, and like lukewarm water as it were provokes vomiting to God, as Pererius wishes; but also because it is something diminished, imperfect, torpid and languid: for it is neither heat nor cold, but a participation of both, nay rather a kind of refraction, diminution and dulling of both. And so the lukewarm are as it were amphibious animals, which are neither terrestrial nor aquatic, and, as is commonly said, neither fish nor flesh. What do you do with such? where do you place them? they are irresolute, they hesitate, they waver, now inclining this way, now that. Is it not better to be cold, but resolved? Second, this lukewarmness is accidentally worse than coldness, because it is joined with and is wont to arise from great presumption, pride, arrogance and contempt of God and divine things, as I said above from Rupert. For this is what he adds: "Because thou sayest, that I am rich." Whence note secondly, that this Bishop of Laodicea through this lukewarmness has fallen away from charity, and has in fact incurred mortal sin, and has tended toward complete coldness, that is, toward voluntary license in sinning and malice, and consequently toward the loss of faith. That this is so is evident both because he is called poor, naked, blind, miserable and wretched; and because he is advised to buy gold tried in fire, that is, charity. Thus teach Richard, Bede, Arethas, Alcazar, Ribera, St. Gregory, Ambrose, in the places already cited, and many others. Note thirdly, that this passage is not badly accommodated to one who exists in lukewarmness in charity; indeed Lyra seems to understand it of him. For, as St. Gregory teaches, in the third part of the Pastoral, admonition 33, there is greater danger in the lukewarm than in the cold: "For," he says, "coldness before lukewarmness is under hope, but lukewarmness after coldness is in despair, that is, he who is still in sins does not lose confidence in conversion: but he who became lukewarm after conversion has at the same time taken away the hope that was concerning the sinner." You will say: How can it be said of him: "I would thou wert cold, or hot"? I answer: This desire seems to be good, and also the permission, whereby namely one wishes or permits that someone sluggish, hardened in sluggishness, and near to ruin, should fall into some graver and manifest sins, so that from these falls he may recognize his lapses, and seriously and thoroughly correct himself and be saved, as St. Augustine teaches, book XIV of the City of God, chapter XIII, in words cited a little before, concerning the proud man, confident in himself and therefore torpid. For unless this happen, he will remain sluggish, and will fall into hidden mortal sins, and will neglect them, and thus will incur the danger of damnation. Such a one therefore is in greater danger than he who is in manifest mortal sin. Which he himself acknowledges. Whence it is better and more desirable that such a one fall into manifest mortal sin, from which he may soon spring back more fervent, than to remain in his sluggishness so dangerous and damaging, inasmuch as from it he will fall into far graver sins, and in an insensible and irrevocable fall will plunge more deeply into hell, as was shown above in the lukewarm one who fell into mortal sin. Morally, learn how great an evil lukewarmness and acedia are. "Acedia," says Climacus, "is a remission of the soul, and a dissolution of the mind, pusillanimity in exercise, hatred of profession, a beatifier of worldly things, a detractor of God as if he were without compassion and existing without kindness, bewildered in psalmody, weakening in prayer, iron in ministry, sluggish in manual work, disobedient in obedience." Thus he himself in the chapter on acedia. "The root of despair is sloth, and not only the root, but it is its nurse and mother. For just as a garment generates and nourishes moths: so sloth not only begets despair from itself, but nourishes and fosters it," says St. Chrysostom, in the book On the Fall. "Through lukewarmness strength and talent flow away," says Isidore, book II of the Soliloquies. "Idleness must be fled, the mother of trifles, the stepmother of virtues," says St. Bernard, book II of Consideration. "Just as in each work constancy is found as a mother, so to all doctrine and discipline negligence is a stepmother," says Boethius, in the book On Scholastic Discipline. Do you wish for the maxims and sentiments of the Gentiles? Plato, in the book On the Republic: "Sloth," he says, "is a plague to mortals." Seneca in the Proverbs: "After long deliberation, act quickly. To care for nothing, this is to be insane; to be able to do nothing, this is to live dead." The same, in the book On Benefits: "No benefit should be given to the negligent." And in epistle 30: "Labor nourishes noble minds." Eusebius the Philosopher: "Sloth wastes the body, sluggishness the soul; but exercise elevates it to a form most like to God." Seneca in the Medea: Fortune fears the brave, oppresses the slothful. Valerius Maximus, book II, chapter vii: "Virtue is accustomed to hate enervated minds." Aristotle, book III of the Ethics, chapter vii: "Every slothful man despairs and distrusts, because he fears all things: but the brave man does the contrary. For it is the mark of a confident mind to dare." The same, book X On Animals: "No," he says, "natural being is born to be idle." See how swift the heavens are, how active the elements, how industrious the animals. Sallust in Catiline: "The aids of the gods are not procured by vows nor by womanish supplications; but by watching, acting, and taking good counsel, all things turn out prosperously: when you have given yourself over to sluggishness and sloth, you will call upon the gods in vain." It was the opinion of Cato: "By doing nothing a man learns to do evil." Terentius has Micio ask concerning the young man, whether he believed that the hoped-for marriages would be accomplished for him by the gods while he slept? Democritus, when asked in what respect the industrious differ from the idle, answered: "In the same way that the impious differ from the pious, namely in good hope." For the laboring man hopes for the reward of his industry, the slothful man despairs. Do you want examples? Cyrus thought that idle soldiers ought to be discharged, as Xenophon relates in book II of the Cyropaedia. Lycurgus thought that a citizen ought to be punished who had manifestly neglected the means by which he might become most excellent: for republics are betrayed by the idle, as Xenophon testifies in his work On the Republic of the Lacedaemonians. Themistocles called "idleness" "the burial of a living man;" and when he saw himself dying after completing one hundred and seven years, he is said to have declared that he grieved greatly that he was departing from life when he had begun to become wise. Thus Plutarch in his Life of him. There is in the Fables of Aesop a teamster driving a cart laden with wood, when it stuck in mud, standing idly and imploring the aid of Hercules, to whom Hercules appearing said: "Apply your hands to the wheels, O teamster, and drive the oxen with the goad, and then seek the aid of the gods; lest, if you cease, the gods be invoked in vain." Whence the Proverb: "Invoke the gods while putting your hand to the work." Seneca, epistle 33: "It is better for me," he says, "to be badly off than to be soft; if you are soft, gradually the mind becomes effeminate, and dissolves into the likeness of the idleness and sloth in which it lies: I sleep minimally, and use the briefest sleep: it is enough for me to have ceased waking: sometimes I know I have slept, sometimes I suspect it." The same, epistle 8: "No day passes for me in idleness: I reclaim part of the nights for study. I do not yield to sleep, but recline, and keep my eyes, wearied by wakefulness and drooping in work, from closing." And epistle 67: "Demetrius calls a secure life, and one without any assaults of fortune, a dead sea; to lie in undisturbed idleness is not tranquility, but stagnation. Attalus the Stoic used to say: I would rather fortune have me in the camp than in luxury." Lysander, when the Lacedaemonians were sluggishly attacking the walls of Corinth, seeing a hare leaping out of a ditch, said: "You fear enemies, in whose walls hares sleep on account of their idleness." Plutarch testifies to this in the Apophthegms. The Spartans expelled the poet Archilochus from the city, although he was a Spartan, because he had written a poem that it was better to lose arms than life in battle. For this seemed to incite citizens to idleness and cowardice. We read that it was preserved among the Nabataeans that a negligent, remiss and idle person, who had diminished his ancestral wealth through idleness, should be punished with a fine. Thus Alexander ab Alexandro, book III, chapter xiii. A Sardinian law was established against the idle, which inflicted penalties for sloth, and compelled each person to render an account of his labors and sustenance, and of his entire manner of life, as Aelian testifies, book IV. A similar law existed among the Argives, as Alexander ab Alexandro testifies, book III, chapter III. Thus even now the Belgians do not tolerate idle or able-bodied beggars. Furthermore, the signs of fervent and lukewarm zeal I reviewed from St. Bernard in Romans XII, 11.
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16. BUT BECAUSE THOU ART LUKEWARM, I WILL BEGIN TO VOMIT THEE OUT OF MY MOUTH. It is a metaphor drawn from foods, which, if they are cold or hot, are retained in the stomach; but if they are lukewarm, they provoke vomiting. For, as Ribera rightly deduces, the stomach, in order to retain and digest foods well, must be closed and constricted. Cold things bite the ventricle and, by contracting, exasperate it; hot things dry it out and prick it: and for this reason, at the touch of both, the parts of the stomach contract, so that both may bind, embrace and digest them. For this reason the ancients in banquets not only set out cold drink, but also hot, as Lipsius notes, lib. I Elector., cap. IV. The Japanese, however, constantly drink hot water, and by this means they avoid and are ignorant of colic, indigestion, phlegm, gout and other diseases of Europeans, which arise from cold drink, as our eyewitness Trigautius reports, lib. I Hist. Sinarum. But at the touch of lukewarm things, the stomach, being bland and pleasant, relaxes, loosens, becomes flaccid and extends; relaxed, it releases the food, and that released food weighs upon it like a burden and causes discomfort: and therefore, nature rising up against what is troublesome and laboring to expel it, it is vomited. Whence physicians are accustomed to give lukewarm water to provoke vomiting. Francis Valesius explains this, Sacrae Philosoph. cap. XX, by a twofold example: First, animals having a crust; for these, as soon as they are pricked or hurt, contract themselves; but if they are poured over with lukewarm water, or are warmed moderately by the sun, they extend. Second, relaxed hands, which are overturned by the same weight that firmly constricted would retain and support. God therefore signifies by lukewarm ones their offering to him, as it were, lukewarm water by their lukewarmness, by which he is forced to vomit them, that is, to repel them from himself and his familiarity. Second, consequently it signifies that lukewarm ones are as it were raw food, deficient in heat, that is, in charity, undigested; just as, on the other hand, the fervent, through the heat of charity, as it were concocted, become members of Christ. Third, this vomiting signifies God execrating the lukewarm, just as we execrate that which the mouth vomits. Fourth, this happens with great violence, as vomiting does: for it is, as it were, against the will of God that he vomit them. Fifth, he does not say: From the stomach, but, From my mouth, because the lukewarm so displease God that he does not admit them into his stomach, but as soon as he senses them in his mouth, he vomits and spits them out, and finally casts them down into eternal punishment, says Andrew of Caesarea. Hear also Alcazar: "I assert," he says, "first, that the metaphor of vomiting is not to be referred (properly and chiefly) to eternal damnation. For this is threatened by God not to the lukewarm alone, but to all sinners; but rather to that which precedes it, namely to the abandonment by God. Second, I assert that the metaphor of vomiting represents an irreconcilable detestation. Third, I assert that a lukewarm person is then most aptly said by Christ to be vomited, when he hardens himself in sin, and is in a manner cast out from the care of divine providence. Now a part of this threat (which on account of even venial lukewarmness ought rightly to be feared) is to be deprived of those helps which are not granted to all the just, but to those alone whom God pursues with greater favor. But how great the danger that thence threatens of falling into mortal sins, and finally into true hardening, I leave to the consideration of spiritual men. Fourth, I assert that this threat thus explained is with respect to lukewarmness, and by it the faithful are taught that lukewarmness is the very path to hardening in sin. By which opinion nothing more apt could have been proposed to the lukewarm, inasmuch as they think themselves very far removed from this hardening, and greatly detest it." A similar proverb is: "To betize," and "beet half-cooked;" for this provokes nausea, and is said of men languid, torpid and effeminate: which the Septuagint uses, Isaiah LI, 20. See the things said there. Thus Diogenes said he did not censure the morals of youths, because "a dog," he said, "does not eat beet," signifying youths insipid, and thus unworthy even of his bite, nor did he deign to bark at them. I WILL BEGIN TO VOMIT THEE. — For "I will begin" in Greek is μέλλω, which properly signifies I shall be or I shall do; the Syriac translator rendered it, I am ready. In Scripture, however, it not rarely signifies I begin, I commence, as in John, cap. IV, 47: "He was beginning," in Greek ἔμελλε, "to die;" Acts III, 3: "When he saw Peter and John about to enter," in Greek μέλλοντας, "into the temple." Ribera brings forward more examples. And this signification is here more apt and effective, as if to say: I will not defer the matter to the future, but immediately I will begin to vomit thee; see therefore that thou dost not remain in thy lukewarmness, but forthwith shake it off and put on fervor. So that, to embrace the whole matter in a word, although the cold one is worse than the lukewarm, yet the state or condition of the lukewarm is worse than that of the cold, because the lukewarm one is in greater danger of falling without hope of rising again, than the cold one. The Arabic translator renders it: Unless thou wert (unless thou wert as lukewarm water), I would have separated thee from my sight, or from my eye, as if to say: Thou wouldst have pleased me, thou wouldst have found grace in my eyes, thou wouldst have been beloved and chosen by me.
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17. BECAUSE THOU SAYEST: I AM RICH, — namely in gold and temporal riches: from this he became poor and lukewarm in spiritual things. Thus Andrew, Aretas and Baronius, as I shall say more fully presently. For riches are held in esteem by all, and often more than virtue, according to that saying of Ovid: Now price is valued for its price; wealth gives honors, / Wealth gives friendships: the poor man lies everywhere. And that saying of Horace, lib. I, ode 28: O citizens, citizens, money must be sought first, / Virtue after money. Secondly and better, "I am rich," namely in virtues. Thus Ambrose and Gregory, XXX Moral., II, where he beautifully teaches that the elect seek heavenly things, but the reprobate earthly riches. Note: The "because" is the same as "although," i.e., Although you think and say that you are rich, in truth however you are poor. Thus Alcazar. Secondly and properly, the "because" gives the cause of lukewarmness, i.e., Because you trust in your own strength and virtues, hence you have grown lukewarm in their exercise. For lukewarm people, seeing that they avoid the graver sins into which worldly and wicked men rush, are accustomed to glory in their own innocence and sanctity, and therefore grow lukewarm. AND THOU KNOWEST NOT THAT THOU ART WRETCHED AND MISERABLE. — Why he is wretched and miserable he adds three causes, namely because he was first, "poor," that is lacking in charity; secondly, "blind," because imprudent in doing things; thirdly, "naked," because lacking in good works, because he did his works through presumption and hypocrisy. For these three things, namely poverty, blindness and nakedness, if they concur in the same person, make him wretched and miserable; just as on the contrary riches, health and honest clothing make him blessed among men. Wherefore against these three afflictions he opposes this threefold happiness, and exhorts him to it, namely against poverty he opposes gold, saying: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried by fire, that thou mayest be made rich." Against nakedness he opposes garments, saying: "With white garments," that is pure and holy works, "be clothed." Against blindness he gives the remedy of sight, saying: "And anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Thus Bede, Ansbert, Rupert and Hugh. Beautifully St. Gregory, lib. XXXIV Moral., cap. XI, thus explains these words of the Apocalypse: "He asserts himself as rich, who is exalted through arrogance of sanctity, but is proved poor, blind and naked. Poor indeed, because he does not have the riches of virtues; blind, because he does not even see the poverty which he suffers; naked, because he has lost his first robe; but worse, because he does not even know that he has lost it. Because therefore the want of the reprobate is the defraudation of merits, it is rightly said of Leviathan: Poverty goes before his face." Golden is the saying of St. Augustine, num. 27: "No one," he says, "however learned, no one however educated is such that he does not need divine illumination. For to no one are the increases of divine goods so sufficient that there does not always remain something which the rational and intelligent mind desires both to understand and to do."
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18. I COUNSEL THEE TO BUY OF ME GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE, — that is, gold tried and purified by fire; for in place of "tried in the fire," the Greek is πεπυρωμένον ἐκ πυρός, that is, fired from fire, that is, drawn from fire as something fired, and consequently thoroughly purified and tried; for πεπυρωμένον corresponds to the Hebrew צרוף tsaruph, that is, gold explored and tried by fire. Perhaps also for πεπυρωμένον, some read πεπειραμένον, that is, tried, and our Interpreter joins both together. Otherwise Alcazar: for "from fire" he refers not to "tried," but to "buy," as if to say, Go to the furnace in which gold burns, and from that very furnace buy pure gold, that is, approach the inflamed charity of God and Christ through devout meditation, and by offering it as a price, as it were, ask that some portion of that fired gold be granted to thee. Note: Christ says "I counsel," not "I command." For, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 56 on Matthew: "Just as he who uses force often turns men away, so he who addresses free listeners attracts them much more. For mild entreaty is more powerful than violent command." Whence Seneca, book I On Clemency, says that human minds are like noble horses, which easily allow themselves to be turned by the bridle: "A gentler command," he says, "is better obeyed." Hence the Wise Man says of God, chapter XII, verse 18: "But thou, O Lord of power, judgest with clemency, and with great favour disposest of us." Note first: By gold many understand wisdom, not of the Philosophers, but of the Saints: both because it itself rests like a desirable treasure in the mouth of the wise, as is said in Proverbs XXI; and because, just as we buy temporal things with gold, so through wisdom we obtain and merit eternal things, says St. Gregory, book IV of the Morals, chapter XXXV. It is called fired, because the wisdom of those in whose minds it dwells kindles them to the love of God and neighbour, says Ambrose; so also Andrew of Caesarea, and Primasius, and Rupert: "Buy," he says, "of me the gold of wisdom fired by charity, tried by faith working through charity;" whence in Psalm CXVIII it is said: "Thy word is exceeding fired," and in Deuteronomy XXXIII: "In his right hand a fiery law." Secondly, Haymo by "fired gold" understands Christ inflamed by the fire of passion, as if to say, if thou wishest to become rich in virtues, imitate in tribulation the patience, meekness, patience and charity of Christ, so that thou mayest be able to say with the Psalmist, Psalm LXV: "Thou hast proved us, O God, thou hast tried us by fire as silver is tried;" and: "We have passed through fire and water." Thirdly and most rightly, Richard, Bede, Ansbert, Hugh and others by this gold understand charity, which is fired and tried, that is, pure and cleansed from hypocrisy and the dross of cupidity, burning and fervent. Furthermore, charity is called fire, first, on account of purity; secondly, on account of subtlety, by which it pervades all things; thirdly, because it tends upward; fourthly, on account of efficacy, because it converts all things into itself; fifthly, because just as fire fails without matter, so also charity dies without works; sixthly, because fire makes all things fiery, and the more it communicates itself, the more it grows without losing anything: so also charity; seventhly, because it is most luminous: thus St. Dionysius, chapter XV of the Celestial Hierarchy. Finally, charity is called gold, because it is most excellent and most precious; and because, just as the Lydian stone and fire try and perfect gold, so patience and passion try and perfect charity. See more analogies of gold and charity in Alcazar, chapter I, page 223. Note secondly, this gold is to be bought, that is, obtained (for this is what the Hebrew קנה kana signifies, to which John here alludes; thus in Isaiah LV, 1, it is said: "Come, buy without money wine and milk") by prayer, tears, penance, good works. This gold, says Rupert, "buy with the price of pious confession, and constant remembrance of thy frailty, always considering what thou art of thyself, and what thou hast received from God: for thus thou shalt become rich in grace and heavenly goods." St. Ambrose adds, in the book On Joseph the Patriarch, chapter VII, that this gold is bought with silver, not ours (for a sinner can merit the first grace by no work or merit), but Christ's, namely by his precious blood: "Buy," he says, "without money; for he sought no price from us, who paid the price of his blood for us." Thirdly, Nazianzen, in his oration on Holy Baptism, answers that God, on account of His immense goodness, by which He desires our salvation, esteems our desire for grace and salvation as the price. "O wonderful," says Nazianzen, "swiftness of beneficence! O easy manner of contracting! This good is proposed to you to be purchased by the price of will alone; God esteems the very appetite itself in the place of great price: He thirsts to be thirsted for, He provides drink to those who freely desire it; when a benefit is asked from God, He thinks Himself affected by the benefit: His nature is prompt, munificent and lavish: He gives more joyfully than others receive." And Clement of Alexandria in his Exhortation to the Gentiles: "All you that thirst, come to the waters: He exhorts," he says, "to the washing, to salvation, to illumination, almost crying out and saying: I give to you, O son, the earth, the sea, the heaven; only, O son, thirst for the Father, God shall be shown to you freely." Fourthly, Abbot Joachim: God gives, he says, grace for grace, John I; let us therefore trade with the lesser grace of God, that we may buy and obtain the greater. And Thomas Aquinas: Buying, he says, is a disposition of free will. The word of buying therefore signifies that man must do many things and contribute many things, that he may be worthy to receive these gifts from God. Thus therefore this buying sharpens the industry of our will. Thus in Proverbs XXIII, it is said: "Buy truth," that is, with great labor and study, and obtain wisdom with the loss of temporal things; do anything, suffer anything, that you may attain it. So Pererius; and Dionysius the Carthusian: Buy, he says, at a price not condigno, but congruous: for the acts of faith, hope, penance, and others are prices, that is, dispositions, by which with great labor this grace is bought, that is, obtained. AND BE CLOTHED IN WHITE GARMENTS,—namely, innocence, purity of life, holy and pure works of virtues, concerning which the Apostle says in Colossians III, 12: "Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience," etc. The Greek texts have: Ἱμάτια λευκά, ἵνα περιβάλῃ, that is, white garments, supply, I advise you to buy, that you may be clothed. Baronius notes from Tacitus, Strabo and others, in the year of Christ 62, at the end, that Laodicea was a most opulent city, so much so that the citizens restored the city, collapsed by an earthquake, to its former state in a short time: and therefore its Bishop says not so much in his own name as in that of the citizens: "I am rich," and this was the cause of the lukewarmness both of him and of the citizens, namely, riches, and from these luxury. These riches were situated, both in other merchandise, and in wool, concerning which Strabo writes, book XII: "The places," he says, "which are around Laodicea, raise excellent sheep, not only in the softness of their wool, in which they also surpass the Milesians, but also in a color rivaling the blackness of ravens; whence they also have ample revenues." Alluding to this, Christ here teaches them that other riches must be sought, and different from those which the Laodiceans possessed in precious fleeces, namely, gold tried in the fire of charity, and white garments of chastity and purity of life: thus from Strabo, Baronius. AND ANOINT THY EYES WITH EYESALVE, THAT THOU MAYEST SEE.—"Eyesalve" is a medicine for the eyes, especially for blearedness: for it restrains phlegm and the harmful humor, which flowing to the eyes impeded sight. Moreover eyesalve is made from sugar and rose water, and tutia, which is a somewhat blackish foam of silver, and is found in silver mines. Hence it has veins of silver, and is friable, so that it becomes like somewhat blackish sand. From it eyesalve is somewhat blackish, and biting and stinging like silver sand. Whence Horace, book I of Satires, satire 5: Here I, bleary-eyed, apply black eyesalve to my eyes. Now by this eyesalve, first, Victorinus, Primasius, Bede and St. Gregory, I part. Pastoral Care, cap. XI, understand consideration and observance of the commandments of God. "With eyesalve," says Gregory, "we anoint the eyes, that we may see, when we purge the keenness of our intellect to know the clarity of true light by the medicine of good works." Secondly, eyesalve is the memory of the passion of Christ, by which we obtain wisdom and grace. Thus Viegas. Thirdly, others: Eyesalve is any tribulation, which by its bitterness purges the spiritual senses, for discerning spiritual things. Fourthly, eyesalve (says Haymo and Alcazar) is mortification of passions, or purity of heart, or imitation of Christ, or assiduous and pious meditation on divine law, or finally captivity of the intellect in obedience to faith. Fifthly, Andrew of Caesarea and Arethas: Eyesalve is contempt of gifts and earthly goods. For just as these blind the eyes of the prudent, so contempt of these opens and illuminates them. Sixth and best, this salve is humility, as Rupertus says: Purify your heart with true humility, that you may see your poverty and acknowledge the riches of God's goodness. For this Bishop of Laodicea labored under a most pernicious ignorance and presumption about himself. Then this salve is consideration of the last things, as it were: By consideration of future goods and evils, cleanse the eye of the mind fixed upon the earth, and blinded and darkened by it. Thus Primasius, Anselmus, Richard, Hugh and Ribera. For attentive meditation on divine things, and especially on the last things, opens the eyes of the soul, that they may discern the true life of virtue and salvation, and it restrains disordered affections and passions, which obscure and darken the sight of the soul. Finally, this salve is penance and contrition of heart, which like a salve at first pricks and troubles the eye, then draws out harmful humors from it through tears, and thus purifies and clarifies the eye of the mind rather than of the body. Thus Ambrose and Thomas the Englishman. From this it is clear that the effective remedy for lukewarmness is, first, fervent love of God; second, zeal for good works. For, as Cassian says in book X of the Institutes of Monks, chapter XXV: "It has been proven by experience that the assault of acedia is not to be avoided by fleeing (as in the case of lust) but is to be overcome by resisting." Third, meditation, especially on death, hell, judgment and heavenly glory, which at first prick the mind so as to purify it; but once purified, they calm and gladden it. True joy indeed is that which a pure and holy conscience brings forth. Moreover, whom would not the immense and eternal weight of glory promised by God with fervor excite to fervor? Whom, however lukewarm, would not the flaming fires of hell and the ardors of eternity strike down and shake from the sleep of sloth and concupiscence, if they are seriously contemplated, penetrated and almost felt? "For torpor arises from imperfect will: as soon as you begin to will the good, there will be ardor and impulse, which is as worst for vices as it is best for virtue," says Petrarch; and the Wise Man, Proverbs XIII, 4: "The slothful willeth and willeth not: but the soul of them that work shall be made fat." And chapter XXI, 25: "Desires kill the slothful: for his hands have refused to work." Just as therefore goads shake torpor from oxen in their going, so these goads of hell and heavenly glory are most sharp, that they may shake the flaccid and torpid will, and make it resolute and efficacious for all good. Most excellently the Wise Man, Proverbs VI, 6: "Go," he says, "to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom; which although she hath no guide, nor master, nor prince, prepareth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest:" so also do you prepare food for yourself of good works, from which you may live for all eternity. Barlaam declares the same thing by a beautiful parable to King Josaphat, in the History of Damascenus concerning them, chapter XIV: There was, he says, a certain great city, in which the citizens were accustomed to make a foreign and unknown man king every year. This man had full power throughout the whole year to do whatever he wished. But when the year was ended, the citizens would suddenly rush upon him, and expel him from the kingdom and city, and even banish him to an island destitute of all things, and soon they would make another foreign man king, and do the same to him when the year was ended. It happened that a certain wise man was made king by them, who, being forewarned by some counselor of this custom of the citizens, sent the royal treasures ahead to the island, to which he knew he would be banished after a year: wherefore when banished he found his treasures there by which he lived sumptuously, while others died of hunger. This city is the world: the citizens are both worldly men and demons: the King is each one of us, who after a year, that is after a brief span of life, is banished to the land of the shadow of death. Therefore he who is wise sends good works ahead (for these are the riches of the future region), that he may live from them for eternity; but if he has not done so, with many other improvident and foolish men, he will be consumed by eternal hunger, wasting and death. Would that this most wise admonition of the Wise Man might continually sound in our ears: "Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: because neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening," Ecclesiastes IX, 10. Surely with God all the years, all the days, all the hours, indeed all the moments of our life are numbered. God has defined for each one the limits of life and death; and therefore He foreknows on what day each person shall be born, how many years he shall live, on what day, at what moment he shall die. Hence by the foreknowledge and decree of God, we can neither add a day, nor an hour, nor a moment. O if we knew how few days and hours remain to us! O if we knew how much glory and gain of goods in heaven we might acquire in each hour through acts of humility, patience, charity and prayer! O if we considered that after this time we shall have no moment left for doing good, how would we live? how would we accumulate works upon works, merits upon merits, gains upon gains like merchants thirsting for riches? We read in the life of St. Mechtildis that she heard one day through a revelation: If mortals knew how much they could merit in each day and increase their crown; if they knew how precious and how brief is the time of this life, they would exult and rejoice in spirit in the morning when they awake, and would render immense thanks to God, that by His grace that day had dawned for them, in which they could acquire for themselves such treasures, lasting for all eternity. Let the lukewarm and sluggish hear the trumpet call of Boethius, lib. IV Consolat. Philosoph., meter 7: Go now, ye strong, where the lofty path / Of great example leads; why do ye cowards / Turn your backs? The earth overcome / Grants the stars. Let them also hear the trumpet call of the Apostle: "That which is momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." This trumpet was ever striking his ears, this was sharpening his mind for all labors and struggles. This eternal weight of glory ever before his eyes, was spurring him on to all hard and arduous things, so that he felt and said that word of St. Francis: "So great is the glory which I await, that all pain delights me." Send, O Lord Jesus, into our hearts the fire which Thou didst bring down from heaven to earth, that all our lukewarmness may become heat, all our fear may become love, all our sorrow may become splendor, all our sluggishness may become fervor. Amen.
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19. I WHOM I LOVE, I REBUKE AND CHASTISE. — For rebuke the Greek is ἐλέγχω, that is, I rebuke, I convince; for chastise it is παιδεύω, that is, I instruct, I form, I chastise, I correct childish manners. The sense is, as it were, says Rupertus: "O Bishop of Laodicea, those things which I speak to you rebuking and chastising you, receive as the grace and benevolence of one who loves." Thus a father, says Haymo, instructs and chastises the Son whom he destines as heir; he neglects others and leaves them to themselves. Moreover, just as it was necessary for Christ here to use sharp reproof, so that this Bishop might shake off his lukewarmness, so that he might acknowledge his misery: so likewise it was fitting that he should show him the bowels of his love, both to soften the reproof, and so that it might lead him to love in return: for some lukewarm are stirred more by love than by fear. Note: Christ chastises his own, first, so that he may increase their merits. Thus St. Job, innocent and without merit, or rather with demerit, endured so many and such great things, that he might be perfected in grace and glory, and might be established for all future ages in tribulation as a living example of patience, as is said in Tobias II, 12. Second, so that he may preserve them in humility, as Paul, II Cor. XII, 9. Third, so that he may expiate their sins, as the paralytic, John V. Fourth, for the greater manifestation of the glory of God, as Lazarus, John XI, and the blind man, John IX. Thus Hugo. "While in secret," says St. Bernard, "in the sermon on that passage, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord, the Bridegroom of truth suggests what is lacking in us, he repels pride, negligence, ingratitude: by which threefold vice almost all Religious labor, because they perceive with less attentive ear what he speaks within, he who flatters no one, the spirit of truth." Most excellently Tertullian, in the book On Patience, chapter XI: "If," he says, "we believe that some things are inflicted by the Lord, to whom rather should we show patience than to the Lord? nay, moreover, he teaches us to congratulate and rejoice in the dignity of divine chastisement: I, he says, whom I love, I chastise, Apocalypse III, 19. O blessed servant, whose amendment the Lord presses upon, to whom he deigns to be angry, whom he did not deceive by the dissimulation of admonition!" In the type of this matter Jacob dying "adored the Lord, turning to the head of the bed," Gen. XLVII, 31; or, as St. Paul transcribed it: "He adored the top of his staff," Heb. chapter XI, verse 21. For when in that staff of Joseph he mystically recognized the divine power for scourging, he submitted himself in the name of his posterity to be struck by it, so that he might show that whatever punishments are inflicted by God are to be embraced with willing mind. Nor is it without mystery that what is called a bed in Genesis is called a staff by St. Paul: because upright and just men rest no less among divine staffs than among soft beds. Which seems to me to be expressed in Esther, who then reigned most happily, and earned the favor of the king, when Ahasuerus "held out to her the golden staff which he held in his hand, and she coming near kissed the top of the staff," Esther V, 2. For those escape more easily and happily from divine punishments who embrace divine punishments more humbly and willingly. Thus our Mendoza in I Kings III, 48. EMULATE, — ζήλωσον, to emulate, assume zeal for your salvation and that of others. Again, as Rupertus, as it were: "I love you, do you emulate my love." And, as Alcazar: "Emulate, that is, acknowledge your misery as well as my love in you, and being inflamed with the flame of my love conceived, put on zeal of vengeance against your lukewarmness, and do penance." For he opposes this zeal to what he said: "Neither are you cold, nor hot."
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20. BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK; IF ANY MAN OPEN TO ME, etc. — It is signified here, first, that God by His immense clemency and grace goes before us, and knocks at the door of our heart and mind, that He may rouse us from the sleep of sloth or sin. Second, that our heart through sloth and sin is closed to God. Third, that it is in the power of man to open to God, that is, to admit or reject His inspiration and grace, by which He knocks upon the mind; to consent and cooperate with grace, or to dissent and refuse to cooperate. Thus the Council of Trent, session VI, chapters v and vi. Fourth, the reward of him who opens is, "I will come in to him," as to my guest (just as Christ entered into the house of Zacchaeus), namely through justifying and sanctifying grace. Hence Theologians divide grace into exciting and assisting, or into operating and cooperating, or into preventing and subsequent (for all these are the same thing); and they teach that exciting grace is required as it were a knock, which stirs up the torpid and as it were sleeping will, that it may will good: cooperating grace, however, is required, that it may support it and cooperate with it while it wills good. Thus St. Augustine, in the book On Grace and Free Will, chapter XVII: "He Himself," he says, "works that we may will, beginning; who cooperates with those willing, perfecting." And in the book On Nature and Grace, chapter XXXI: "He goes before," he says, "that we may be healed, and follows that being healed we may be strengthened: He goes before that we may be called, and follows that we may be glorified: He goes before that we may live piously, and follows that we may live with Him forever." Where, however, St. Augustine by subsequent grace understands not so much cooperating grace, as that which is given after justification for perseverance. And St. Bernard, in the book On Grace and Free Will: "Our efforts," he says, "are vain, if they are not assisted; and nothing, if they are not excited." This is what the Church prays: "We beseech Thee, O Lord, go before our actions by Thy inspiration, and follow them by Thy assistance." Christ alludes here to Canticles v, 2: "The voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the night." For by these words He stirs up the spouse of Christ, that she may cast off lukewarmness, and finally open her heart to Christ knocking all night long to the embraces of love and fervor. Thus Joachim. Note: God knocks first, through the illumination of the intellect and the impulse of the will, by sending upon it the terrors of hell, the hope and desire of heavenly joys; second, through Holy Scripture and other pious books; third, through preachers and other admonishers; fourth, through examples. Nothing stirs more, nothing is more useful, than to read the lives and examples of the Saints. Thus St. Augustine, hearing the life of St. Anthony, was converted, as also the courtiers of the Emperor, of whom he himself writes in book VIII of the Confessions, chapter VI. Thus St. Thomas Aquinas read daily the Conferences of Cassian and the Fathers. Thus our holy Father Ignatius, reading the heroic deeds of the Saints, stirred up to their imitation, changed his life and state. Fifth, by proposing His judgments exercised upon these or those; sixth, through His benefits bestowed upon us; seventh, through adversities and tribulations; eighth, through miracles. Thus Pererius. AND I WILL SUP WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME. — That is to say, I shall be familiar with him, his guest and friend; I shall deal with him familiarly, in a friendly and pleasant manner, as a guest with a host and a host with a guest. Note how much God values our cooperation with His grace, namely our contrition, pious desires, prayers, tears; truly as it were delights and most sweet feasts, by which He Himself as it were at a sumptuous supper is nourished and delighted. "I will sup with thee," says Rupert, "that is, I shall delight in the good things of thy conscience; but afterwards thou also shalt sup with me, that is, after death in heaven thou shalt enjoy My eternal goods and delights." Properly, however, by "I will come in" justification is signified, by "I will sup" the special pleasantness and sweetness, both of God and of the now justified conscience, which is the beginning of the heavenly supper and eternal delights. He alludes to Canticles V, 1, where the spouse inviting the bridegroom says: "Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees;"; and Canticles VIII, 2: "I would give thee a cup of spiced wine to drink, and the must of my pomegranates." Moreover Alcazar expounds "and I will sup with him" of the Eucharist, that is to say, If thou cast off lukewarmness and embrace the fervor of the spirit, I promise thee grace from the Holy Synaxis for the fruit of solid virtues, by which thou mayest nourish and refresh that same Christ; but thou "and I with thee" he takes of repasts, that is, of another supper in the house of Christ the bridegroom (for thus the bridegroom celebrating nuptials in the house of the bride, exhibits repasts to her and her friends, inviting them to supper in his house), in which Christ shall receive at a banquet him by whom he had been invited, according to that word of the Spouse in Canticles, chapter II, verse 4: "He brought me into the cellar of wine." Moreover these repasts of Christ are, he says, great delight from the knowledge of heavenly things, not dry, but savory, which wonderfully refreshes and inebriates the soul, especially in Holy Communion: the soul, I say, not of any man, but of one fervent and wholly devoted to the service of God. For Him alone does He introduce into His wine cellar. This exposition is acute and apt.
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21. HE THAT OVERCOMETH, I WILL GIVE HIM TO SIT WITH ME IN MY THRONE. — That is to say, I will make him a partaker of my heavenly kingdom, in which it is granted to the Blessed to have eternal light, perfect rest, unspeakable joy and everlasting glory. Thus Andreas of Caesarea; so it is said in Isaiah, last chapter: "Heaven is my throne." In this universal throne and kingdom, however, there are various seats and heights according to merits. Secondly, St. Gregory, in the twenty-sixth book of the Morals, twenty-sixth: "Because," he says, "we receive the principality of judgment from the virtue of Christ, hence as it were we sit in his throne." So also Haymo: "To sit in the throne," he says, "is to be a partaker of judicial power." Thirdly, Alcazar: To the throne of Christ, he says, perfect men are exalted, not in the future, but in this life, when they are placed in the seat of the highest peace, and to them sitting and enjoying that peace, God subjects the movements of temptations, just as God subjects enemies to Christ sitting and reigning. For nothing could be more fittingly promised to one shaking off lukewarmness than that spiritual peace which those who determine to serve Christ perfectly participate in from Christ, and that throne which they enjoy, and the dominion over their own affections. This sense is pious, but tropological and mystical, not literal. The first sense therefore is literal and genuine. For to this Bishop, as also to the others, the reward and prize of the heavenly kingdom is promised: for Christ shows this crown to each one, though under different names and titles, in order to sharpen them for the study of virtue and piety. To this lukewarm one therefore he promises it under the name of sitting, because the lukewarm flees from labor and running; hence if he embraces it, he promises him eternal rest and royal sitting in the heavens. He alludes to Psalm 109, 1: "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool." Note: In these seven Epistles of Christ, he promises the prize to the one who "overcometh," and to no other: "to him who overcometh," I say, himself and his desires, fears, sluggishness and other passions; because this victory over himself, as it is difficult and necessary, so it is noble and glorious. The Gentiles saw this from afar, and through a shadow. "Since the soul is free and mistress of the passions, to overcome oneself is the first and best of all victories: but to be overcome by oneself is both most shameful and worst," says Plato in the Laws. Alexander thought it more kingly to overcome himself than enemies, says Plutarch in his Life of Alexander. To overcome oneself rather than an enemy is much more laborious, "nor to flee adversity with hasty speed, nor to seize prosperity with effusive joy," says Valerius Maximus, book IV, chapter 1; and the Poet: You reign more widely by subduing the greedy / Spirit, than if you joined Libya to the / Distant Gadira, and both Carthaginians / Served one master. And another: It is difficult to overcome others; a greater victory / Is to have composed the waves of one's own mind; / To have subdued fears, and to have vanquished swellings of pride; / To have placed joys, hope under a heavy yoke. And another: He is a king who, restraining himself with the reins of right reason, / Governs the harmful desires of his mind: / At his command seductive pleasure flees, / And pain, and hope and fear in swift flight. And another: Whoever has driven away quiet / Joy, and hard sorrows from the mind; / Has conquered hopes gasping, and timid / Fear in the heart: / He alone has merited the laurel crown, / He alone triumphs peacefully in purple: / True pleasure gives him the seat / Next to the blessed.
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HE THAT HATH AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAITH TO THE CHURCHES. — These are words arousing attention, as if to say: Prick up thy ears, Pamphilus, thy matter and thy salvation are at stake here: receive with attentive ears, eyes and heart the warnings of the Holy Spirit. Thus here in Rome in the temple of St. Pancras, on the lofty pulpit from which in ancient custom the Gospel is read in the sacrifice of the Mass, we read inscribed in ancient golden letters: "Let him that readeth attend to what the sacred reading tends." As a conclusion to these three chapters, note that in each of the seven Epistles to the Bishops of Asia, Christ alludes to the contests, victories and crowns of athletes, especially the Olympian victors, which were celebrated in Asia and Greece, and by these he stirs up and excites the Bishops and any faithful to similar heroic struggles, crowns and triumphs, as I shall show more fully shortly. For in the Olympian contests of old, victory was held in such high esteem, winning was so valued, that the Olympian victor, ὀλυμπιονίκης, was seen to be exalted to the gods, and the Olympian crown was held in such regard that not a few preferred this honor to life itself, as the measure of all human happiness: wherefore to obtain them the struggle and contention of the competitors was supreme. Nero, says Suetonius in his Life, cap. XXV: "When he was carried into Rome in that chariot in which Augustus had once triumphed, and in purple garment and cloak adorned with golden stars, he wore upon his head an Olympian crown, and in his right hand the Pythian;" although he had deserved neither. Certainly when he competed in a chariot race at Olympia, he was thrown from it, yet nevertheless he obtained the crown, says Xiphilinus in his account of Nero; on account of which favor he distributed to the judges twenty-five myriads, which Galba afterwards recovered from them. Moreover, the proclamation by which Nero was announced as victor was as follows: "Nero Caesar wins the contest, and crowns the Roman people, and his own empire." Diagoras, says Gellius, lib. III, cap. XV, "when he saw three sons win and be crowned on the same day at Olympia, and the three youths embraced him, placing their crowns upon their father's head and kissing him; and when the people in congratulation threw flowers upon him from all sides, there in the stadium in the sight and hands of his sons he breathed out his soul." Pliny relates the same of Chilon, lib. VII, cap. XXXII: "Whose funeral, when he expired at Olympia with his victorious son, all Greece attended with joy." Such was the spirit of Acetes, of whom Statius writes, lib. V of the Silvae: Spectator Acetes: / He more often while his eyes / Are buried by the dust's inhalation, / And with the crown pressed vows to expire. Pindar in the Pythian Odes, ode 10, calls this crown the greatest of rewards, which falls to none except by daring and acting bravely. The same, ode 1: "He who conquers," he says, "has the rest of his life in honeyed tranquility, on account of the rewards of victory." Hence future athletes were first ascetes, that is, exercisers. For they exercised themselves constantly in running, wrestling, jumping, or in that kind of wrestling in which they were to compete. Nor was this honor prepared only for the athletes themselves, but also for their country, which as a whole exulted and was celebrated with its victor. It is truly remarkable what Pliny writes, lib. VII, cap. XLVII: "Enthymius," he says, "a boxer (that is, a pugilist) always victor at Olympia, and once defeated, as if having transcended mortal heights, was consecrated while living and conscious;" namely, to this boxer was paid much more honor than was ever sought through flattery by Roman Emperors, to whom "honor was not held as a god before they ceased to act among men," says Tacitus at the end of lib. XV of the Annals. What then? That the statue of the athlete Polydamas was said in Olympia to bring aid to those afflicted with fever, as Lucian relates in the Dialogue of the Gods. Wherefore Plato, lib. V of the Republic, compares the happiness of his divine state with the Olympian victors: "Freed from all these difficulties," he says, "they will live that happy life of the Olympian victors, plainly more blessed." Finally, the Gentiles regarded the Olympian victor as almost θεόν, equal to the gods. Solon gives the reason in Lucian's On Gymnastics: "For there," he says, "it is permitted to behold the strength of men, and the beauty of bodies, and the vigor of limbs, and many splendid displays, and invincible and bold strength, and ambitious contention. If you were to see these things, you would truly make no end of praising, no end of applauding." Hence Cicero in his speech For Flaccus: "Acinas," he says, "a boxer and Olympian victor, that is among the Greeks almost greater and more glorious than to have triumphed at Rome." Wherefore Clement of Alexandria asserts that those who wish to conquer desires ought to be Olympian, more keen and vehement than wasps themselves, as if to say: No force or virtue can be compared with the Olympian crown, and it is required in the conqueror of pleasure. These and more things Charles Paschalius, lib. VI On Crowns, cap. vi and vii. If glass were worth as much as pearls, if the Olympic victory and the Olympic victor were worth so much, how much ought the Christian victory to be worth, how great ought to be the struggle and contention for it? Namely, in which the victor, who despises all earthly things as small and childish, and who powerfully rules his desires equally as his passions, and generously sustains and overcomes any adversities and hardships through love of God, becomes not only free from passion, but steadfast, that is, victor of Olympus and heaven, master of himself and the world, indeed true Israel, that is, one who rules over God, is made. The Apostle speaks excellently in I Corinthians, chapter IX, verse 25: "All," he says, "who contend in the contest abstain from all things, and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one." Wherefore Christ here refreshes and sets before each Bishop this crown, and by it stirs up and inflames him and his faithful to the arduous contests and struggles of faith: namely to the Ephesian, chapter II, verse 7: "To him that overcometh," he says, "I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God." To the Smyrnaean, verse 11: "He that overcometh," he says, "shall not be hurt by the second death." To the Pergamenian, verse 17: "To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna, and I will give him a white counter: and in the counter a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it." To the Thyatirean, verse 26: "He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, I will give him power over the Gentiles, etc., and I will give him the morning star." To the Sardian, chapter III, verse 5: "He that overcometh shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels;" where he alludes to the proclamation of the Olympic victor, by which the victor was declared, named and praised in public by the herald's voice before all the people at the Olympic games, such as was that of Nero, which I recounted a little before. Thus Virgil, in the fifth book of the Aeneid: Then the son of Anchises (Aeneas), with all summoned according to custom, / Declares Cloanthus the victor with the herald's great voice, / And covers his temples with green laurel. Charles Paschalius shows this from many sources in his sixth book On Crowns, chapter xi, and Peter Faber, in the second book of the Agonist, chapter xi, from Philostratus, Maximus, Demosthenes, Plutarch and Cicero. To the Philadelphian, verse 12: "He that overcometh," he says, "I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, etc., and my new name." To the Laodicean, verse 21: "He that overcometh, I will give him to sit with me in my throne, as I also have overcome, and am seated with my Father in his throne." Christ therefore, the first Olympic victor, sets before his followers, Olympic victors, and indeed each one individually, the crown of heavenly glory to be seen before their eyes, and by it invites them to the contest, and therefore gives them various titles and names: for now he calls it the tree of life, now hidden manna, now a white counter, now a new name, now white garments, now the morning star, now a pillar, now the throne of God, etc. Come then, O athlete of Christ; manfully fight the good fight, lay hold on eternal life; let no labor seem long to you, let no pain seem hard, to whom heaven, to whom eternity, to whom a divine crown is promised. Weave this there, and complete it with continuous deeds of heroic virtues. "For this virtue, perfect and complete in all respects, bestows upon the victors a crown and the reward of the immortality we seek," says Lactantius, book IV On True Wisdom, XVI. "That day will come, that day will come hereafter," says St. Jerome, volume II, epistle 6, "when you, the victor, return to your homeland, when through the heavenly Jerusalem you, a strong man, crowned, walk forth." Imitate the Martyrs, to whom St. Cyprian, writing in book II, epistle 6, says: "You endured," he says, "unto the consummation of glory the harshest torture, and you did not cease under torments, but rather the torments ceased for you. The crowns gave an end to the pains, which the torments did not give;" and soon after: "They stood, twisted, stronger than those who twisted them; and those striking and tearing with claws, struck and torn limbs overcame. Relentless faith could not be overcome by the raging blow repeated for a long time, although with broken frame of viscera, the limbs were not tortured in the servants of God, but wounds. Precious this death, which purchased immortality at the price of its own blood, which received a crown from the consummation of virtue." Finally, hear St. Gregory, homily 37 in the Gospel: "Let the greatness of the rewards delight the mind," he says, "but let not the struggle of labors deter it. For he shall not be crowned unless he has fought lawfully." For the heavenly Jerusalem is the house of the strong, as St. Vigilantius says in the Life of St. Asion; whence its type was the house of the strong men of David, namely 37 of his mightiest soldiers, who are listed in II Kings, chapter XXIII, verse 8, and they were heroes.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
3:1
… B. Allo refers Apoc. 1:4 and 4:5 to the Holy Spirit "sevenfold"; but J. Michl demonstrates that these (as also Apoc. 3:1; 5:6; 8:2; 15:1) are seven angelic princes.
… To them seems due, in part, the moral laxity also of the communities of Sardis and Laodicea (ibid. 3:1-6, 14-22).
3:3
… Like Jesus, the Apostles refuse to concern themselves with the time of the supreme parousia, and take advantage of every question on the matter to recommend vigilance and persevering action, over the long term (Acts 1:6-8; I Thess. 5:1-11; II Pt. 3:4-14; Apoc. 3:3; 16:15); like Jesus, St. Paul describes the "signs" that precede the parousia, which must strengthen moral resistance (Mt. 24:21-27; II Thess. 2:3-12). The apostolic charge is ascetical …
3:5
… "Then your people shall be saved, whoever is found written in the book of life" (Dan. 12:1; cf. Ex. 32:32 and Ps. 69 [68]:19; the identical image is found in Apoc. 3:5; 17:8; 21:12). What is also emphasized in the Old Testament is that God freely chose the Hebrew people in preference to others, just as no less freely he chose among many others Abraham, …
3:7
Holiness of Christ and of Mary
… Christ. - The New Testament formally applies to Jesus the adjective "holy" (ἅγιος: Lk. 1:35; Acts 3:14; 4:27, 30; Heb. 7:26) and also the noun (ὁ ἅγιος): the demons recognized in him "the Holy One" par excellence (Mk. 1:24); the same title is given him by Rev. 3:7.
… In the letter directed to the "angel of the church of F." (Rev. 3:7-13) we find only praise: the small Christian community resisted well the Jewish persecutions of the "synagogue of Satan" (3:9).
Primacy of Saint Peter and of the Roman Pontiff
… Key in fact in Sacred Scripture is a synonym for authority (cf. Is. 22:22: "et dabo clavem domus David super humerum eius"; Apoc. 1:7 ff.; 3:7; 9:1; 20:1; the only exception Lk. 11:52: "clavis scientiae"). …
3:9
… Anti-Messianism indeed becomes a sad Jewish characteristic (Act. 4:24-32; I Thess. 2:14-16; 4th Gospel; Apoc. 2:9; 3:9). The Gospels do not mention an individual A. Jesus foretells many pseudo-Christs (cf. Deut. 18:20) and pseudo-prophets (Mt. 24:11, 25; Mc. 13:22; Io. 5:43 b), whose doctrines …
… lie to God (Act. 5:3); his method is falsehood (Io. 8:44) and to seduce he "transfigures himself into an angel of light" (II Cor. 11:14). Against his seductions (II Cor. 2:11) and violence, against the "synagogues" of the followers of S. (Apoc. 2:9-13; 3:9), against the apostates who return to S. (I Tim. 5:15), the Christian must resist, fight with the weapons of the spirit (I Pt. 5:9; Iac. 4:7; Eph. 6:10-17). Christ has defeated him …
… These and other Gnostics were organized in strictly secret groups (Tertullian, Adv. Valentin., 1); such "synagogues of Satan" (Rev. 2, 9; 3, 9), perpetuated, explain the rapid spread, in the Middle Ages, of the disciplined and highly secret Cathar-Albigensian movement (v.). …
3:14
… 7 in Lk., and 26 times, in doubled form, in Jn.: Amen, amen dico vobis "truly, truly I say to you," that is, "I say to you in all truth" (superlative form: cf. St. Augustine, Tractatus in Ioh., 8, 34 (PL 35, 1694). Perhaps St. John alludes to this in Rev. 3:14.
The Christian community of L. was the object of a very harsh reproach on the part of St. John (Apoc. 3, 14-20), who seems to allude to the Phrygian powder v. used by the oculists of L. as a remedy for the eyes, as well as to the opulence of the city which, struck by an earthquake in 60 A.D., …
3:15
… Per spiegare la scomparsa della primitiva intestazione ai Laodicesi, l'Harnack, seguito da vari critici (tra i cattolici, J. M. Vosté, p. 27 sg.; J. Huby, p. 132), ricorre all'ipotesi di una soppressione provocata dal biasimo, di cui la chiesa di Laodicea è oggetto in Apoc. 3, 15 sgg. In contrario, cf. G. Ricciotti, Paolo apostolo, Roma 1946, p. 534.
LUKEWARMNESS. - A disposition of the soul that is neither cold nor hot (Rev. 3:15-16) and, while not being in a state of sin or spiritual death, lacks the fervor and dynamism of charity (v.).
3:16
… The lukewarm person provokes "vomiting," God's reprobation, as the Lord says to the "angel" of Laodicea: "Because you are lukewarm and neither fervent nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of my mouth" (Rev. 3:16).
3:18
The remedies are those imposed on the "angel" of Laodicea (Rev. 3:18-19): an energetic, radical return to former fervor, beginning a life decisively directed, through efforts and renunciations, toward progress and spiritual perfection.
3:20
economy, has ceased (II Cor. 5:17; Heb. 8:13); we are near the "end of all things" of the world (Heb. 10:25, 37; Jas. 5:8; I Pet. 4:7; I John 2:18). When the Apostles proclaim "the Lord is near" (Phil. 4:5; Rom. 13:11; Jas. 5:8; Rev. 3:20), it is a matter of a spatial-spiritual nearness rather than a temporal one; it is the presence of Jesus already living among his own (Matt. 18:20; 28:20; John 14:3-23), in which the …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.