The number of them that were marked with the seal of the living God and clothed in white robes.
The earth being to be punished, 3 they are commaunded to saue them that are signed in their foreheads: 4 vvhich are described and numbered both of the Ievves and Gentiles, blessing God. 13 Of them that vvere clothed in vvhite stoles or long robes.
1After these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow upon the earth nor upon the sea nor on any tree.Di poi vidi quattro Angeli, che stavano sui quattro angoli della terra, che tenevano i quattro venti della terra, affinchè non soffiasse vento sopra la terra, né sopra il mare, né sopra alcuna pianta.AFTER these things I savv foure Angels stāding vpon the foure corners of the earth, holding the foure vvindes of the earth that they should not blovv vpon the land, nor vpon the sea, nor on any tree.Post hæc vidi quatuor angelos stantes super quatuor angulos terræ, tenentes quatuor ventos terræ, ne flarent super terram, neque super mare, neque in ullam arborem. 2And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,E vidi un altr'Angelo, che saliva da levante, che aveva il sigillo di Dio vivo; e gridò ad alta voce ai quattro Angeli, a' quali fu data commissione di far del male alla terra, e al mare,And I savv an other Angel ascending from the rising of the sunne, hauing the signe of the liuing God: & he cried vvith a loud voice to the foure Angels, to vvhom it vvas giuen to hurt the earth and the sea,Et vidi alterum angelum ascendentem ab ortu solis, habentem signum Dei vivi: et clamavit voce magna quatuor angelis, quibus datum est nocere terræ et mari, 3Saying: Hurt not the earth nor the sea nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads.Dicendo: non fate male alla terra, e al mare, né alle piante, sino a tantoché abbiamo segnati nella lor fronte i servi del nostro Dio.saying, Hurt not the earth and the sea, nor the trees, til vve signe the seruants of our God in their foreheades.dicens: Nolite nocere terræ, et mari, neque arboribus, quoadusque signemus servos Dei nostri in frontibus eorum. 4And I heard the number of them that were signed. An hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel.E udii il numero dei segnati, centoquaranta quattro mila segnati, da tutte le tribù de' figliuoli d'Israele.And I heard the number of them that vvere signed, an hundred fourtie foure thousand vvere signed, of euery tribe of the children of Israël.Et audivi numerum signatorum, centum quadraginta quatuor millia signati, ex omni tribu filiorum Israël. 5Of the tribe of Juda, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand signed:Della tribù di Giuda dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Ruben dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Gad dodici mila segnati:Of the tribe of Iuda, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of Ruben, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of God, tvvelue thousand signed.Ex tribu Juda duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Ruben duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Gad duodecim millia signati:
6Of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Manasses, twelve thousand signed:Della tribù di Aser dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Neftali dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Manasse dodici mila segnati:Of the tribe of Aser, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of Nephthali, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of Manasses, tvvelue thousand signed.ex tribu Aser duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Nephthali duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Manasse duodecim millia signati: 7Of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand signed:Della tribù di Simeone dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Levi dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Issacar dodici mila segnati:Of the tribe of Simeon, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of Leui, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of Issachar, tvvelue thousand signed.ex tribu Simeon duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Levi duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Issachar duodecim millia signati: 8Of the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand signed.Della tribù di Zabulon dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Giuseppe dodici mila segnati: della tribù di Beniamin dodici mila segnati.Of the tribe of Zabulon, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of Ioseph, tvvelue thousand signed. Of the tribe of Beniamin, tvvelue thousand signed.ex tribu Zabulon duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Joseph duodecim millia signati: ex tribu Benjamin duodecim millia signati. 9After this, I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.Dopo di questo vidi una turba grande, che nissuno potea noverare, di tutte genti, e tribù, e popoli, e linguaggi, che stavano dinanzi al trono, e dinanzi all'Agnello, vestiti di bianche stole con palme nelle lor mani:After these things I savv a great multitude vvhich no man could number, of al nations, and tribes, and peoples, & tonges: standing before the throne, and in the sight of the Lambe, clothed in vvhite robes, and palmes in their hands:Post hæc vidi turbam magnam, quam dinumerare nemo poterat, ex omnibus gentibus, et tribubus, et populis, et linguis: stantes ante thronum, et in conspectu Agni, amicti stolis albis, et palmæ in manibus eorum:
10And they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb.E gridavano ad alta volte, dicendo: la salute al nostro Dio, che siede sul trono, e all'Agnello.And they cried vvith a lovvd voice, saying, Saluation to our God vvhich sitteth vpon the throne, and to the Lambe.et clamabant voce magna, dicentes: Salus Deo nostro, qui sedet super thronum, et Agno. 11And all the angels stood round about the throne and the ancients and the four living creatures. And they fell down before the throne upon their faces and adored God,E tutti gli Angeli stavano d'intorno al trono, ed a' seniori, ed a' quattro animali: e si prostraron bocconi dinanzi al trono, e adorarono Dio,and al the Angels stoode in the circuite of the throne and of the seniors and of the foure beastes: and they fal in the sight of the throne vpon their faces, and adored God,Et omnes angeli stabant in circuitu throni, et seniorum, et quatuor animalium: et ceciderunt in conspectu throni in facies suas, et adoraverunt Deum, 12Saying: Amen. Benediction and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, honour and power and strength, to our God, for ever and ever. Amen.Dicendo: amen. Benedizione, e gloria, e sapienza, e rendimento di grazie, e onore, e virtù, e fortezza al nostro Dio pe' secoli de' secoli, così sia.saying, Amen. Benediction, and glorie, and vvisedom, & thākesgiuing, honour and povver, and strength to our God for euer and euer. Amen.dicentes: Amen. Benedictio, et claritas, et sapientia, et gratiarum actio, honor, et virtus, et fortitudo Deo nostro in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. 13And one of the ancients answered and said to me: These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? And whence came they?E disse a me uno de' seniori: questi, che sono vestiti di bianche stole, chi sono? E donde vennero?And one of the seniors ansvvered, & said to me, These that are clothed in the vvhite robes, vvho be they? & whence came they?Et respondit unus de senioribus et dixit mihi: Hi, qui amicti sunt stolis albis, qui sunt ? et unde venerunt ? 14And I said to him: My Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me: These are they who are come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.E io gli risposi: signor mio, tu lo sai. Ed ei mi disse: questi son quelli, che sono venuti da una tribolazione grande, e hanno lavato le loro stole, ed imbiancatele nel sangue dell'Agnello:And I said to him, My Lord thou knovvest. And he said to me, These are they vvhich are come out of great tribulation, and haue vvashed their robes, and made them vvhite in the bloud of the Lambe.Et dixi illi: Domine mi, tu scis. Et dixit mihi: Hi sunt, qui venerunt de tribulatione magna, et laverunt stolas suas, et dealbaverunt eas in sanguine Agni.
15Therefore, they are before the throne of God: and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell over them.Per questo stanno dinanzi al trono di Dio, e lo servono di, e notte nel suo tempio: e colui, che siede nel trono, abiterà sopra di essi:therfore they are before the throne of God, and they serue him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth in the throne, shal dvvel ouer them.Ideo sunt ante thronum Dei, et serviunt ei die ac nocte in templo ejus: et qui sedet in throno, habitabit super illos: 16They shall no more hunger nor thirst: neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat.Non avranno più né fame, né sete né darà loro addosso il sole, né calore alcuno:they shal no more hunger nor thirst, neither shal the sunne fall vpon them, nor any heate.non esurient, neque sitient amplius, nec cadet super illos sol, neque ullus æstus: 17For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.Attesoché l'Agnello, che sta nel mezzo del trono, li governerà, e guideragli alle fontane di acqua di vita, e asciugherà Dio tutte le lagrime dagli occhi loro.because the Lambe vvhich is in the middes of the throne, shal rule them, and shal conduct them to the liuing fountaines of vvaters, and God vvil vvipe avvay al teares from their eies.quoniam Agnus, qui in medio throni est, reget illos et deducet eos ad vitæ fontes aquarum, et absterget Deus omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum.
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Witham
I saw four Angels, etc. Though some understand here evil spirits, whom God may make use of as instruments to punish the wicked, yet we may rather, with other interpreters, understand good angels sent from God to guard and protect his faithful servants both from evil spirits and wicked men. (Witham)
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Calmet
Having the seal. This sign is generally supposed to be the sign of the cross. In the East, it was the custom to impress some indelible mark upon the soldiers. This sign[the sign of the cross] amongst the ancient Christians was used on every occasion. (Calmet)
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Hurt not the earth, etc. Some understand Christ himself, who gives his commands in this manner to the Angels; others, an Angel of a higher rank or order.
Witham
Till we seal the servants of our God in their foreheads, which may be expounded, let not persecutions and trials come upon them till they are strengthened by the spirit and grace of God, with which St. Paul sometimes says the servants of God are signed and sealed. See 2 Corinthians 1:22.; Ephesians 1:13. He alludes to the passages of Ezechiel, (Ezechiel 9:4.) where God bids an Angel mark with the letter Tau the foreheads of those who should not be hurt by the judgments that were to fall upon Jerusalem; so God would protect the faithful Christians, who believed and put their trust in Christ crucified, and who from the first ages[centuries], in testimony of this faith, used to sign themselves by making the sign of the cross on their foreheads, of which the letter Tau was a figure or resemblance. See Tertullian, lib. de Corona militis. I beg the reader's patience, if I here set down what I find in the great Synopsis Papismi, in folio, put out by Mr. Andrew Willet, and dedicated first to queen Elizabeth, and afterwards to king James the first. Among his demonstrations, as he calls them, that the pope is the antichrist, (Controv. 4:q. 10. p. 232 and 233) he tells us in plain terms, "that the sign of the cross is one of the visible signs of antichrist. And who," saith he, "hath taught the papists that the sign of the cross is to be borne or made on men's foreheads? And that with crossing the forehead we are preserved from dangers? The superstitious marks of the cross had their beginning from the beast's name, since the number of the beast's name in the Revelation of St. John is by these Greek letters, chxs. The first letter, ch, is a cross; the middle letter, x, (in Latin, X) is also a side long cross; and the last letter, s, contains both s and t of which the latter is called a headless cross;" and then Mr. Willet concludes in these words, "And thus it plainly appears, that the marks whereby the papists say they honour Christ, are rather a dishonour to him, and are in very deed the cognizance of antichrist." Such an ingenious, and at the same time learned fancy, may perhaps outvie even those we have cited out of Mr. Brightman [in the annotations on Apocalypse 3:14-22.], and may be equally serviceable to any country parson on the fifth of November, or on any day when he shall think fit to hold forth against the pope or popery. I suppose that Mr. Willet did not know that the Christians in the first ages[centuries] (as all Catholics to this day) made so frequent use of the sign of the cross, as it is witnessed by Tertullian above two hundred years before even any Protestant pretended that the popes began to be antichrists, or the great antichrist. And this, says he, they do by a tradition from father to son. At every setting forward or going about any thing, at coming home or going out, at putting on our clothes, at going to bathe, to table, to light a candle, to bed, to sit down, to any thing, we make the sign of the cross on our foreheads. And this is a tradition. The like is witnessed by St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and many of the Fathers. At the same time that with our hand we make the sign of the cross, we say these words, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" the words used when any one is made a Christian [at his baptism], according to the command of Christ. [Matthew 28:19.] So that the action itself puts us in mind that Jesus Christ died for us on the cross; and by the words, we make a profession of our Christian faith, that we believe in one God and three Persons. Can we do this too often? Dare we be ashamed of doing it? Was ever any thing more ridiculous than to call this in very deed the cognizance of antichrist? What must Mr. Willet have thought of the Protestants, or what can they think of him, and such like folio scribblers, to prove the popes the beast of St. John's Revelation? What must, I say, Mr. Willet think of the public liturgy, or the book of common prayer, approved and used by the Church of England in his time, and which ordains that the sign of the cross shall be made by the priest on the forehead of every one that is baptized? This, according to Mr. Willet, is (when any one is made a Christian) to give him the badge, and visible sign of antichrist, to the dishonour of Christ, and what in very deed is the cognizance of antichrist. (Witham)
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Witham
I heard the number of them that were sealed. By these determinate numbers need only be understood a great number of Jews converted and saved, though much greater was the number of the saved taken from among the Gentiles of all nations, of which it is said, I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, etc. (Witham)
Ven. Bede
The number of one hundred and forty-four thousand is not to be taken in a literal and strict sense, but to express in general terms the great number of the elect; for it appears that the tribe of Dan, which certainly must have produced some elect, is not mentioned, and the tribe of Joseph is put in lieu of that of Ephraim: so that if it be supposed that these numbers must be taken literally, the tribe of Joseph would have produced a double number to that of any other tribe, since Manasses was his son, and the tribe of Dan would have produced none. (Ven. Bede)
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Witham
Salvation to our God; that is our salvation is from God, to whom be praise for ever, Amen, benediction, or blessings, thanksgiving. etc. (Witham)
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Witham
White in the blood of the Lamb. That is, they have been cleansed and purified from sin, by the death, merits, and grace of Christ crucified. (Witham)
Calmet
The whole of this verse must be understood in a mystical sense, for we are said to make our garments white in the blood of the Lamb, when we enter into his Church by baptism, or wash away our sins by penance or martyrdom. (Calmet)
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Therefore they are before the throne of God....in his temple; that is therefore are they now happy in heaven, where the temple was represented to be, as observed before.
Witham
He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell, or dwelleth over them. (Witham)
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Witham
The Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, God and man, shall rule[Ver. 17. Reget eos, poimanei, etc.] them as a shepherd does his flock. By the Greek, And shall lead them unto fountains of living waters;[Ver. 17. Ad vitae fontes aquarum, epi zoes pegas udaton; not zosas, as in some manuscripts.] literally, to the fountains of life of waters; shall bless them with everlasting happiness. (Witham)
Car
He represents the happiness of the saints, under the idea of being exempt from all the wants and evils of this life. For we are not able, according to truth itself, to conceive the happiness that is prepared for us; wherefore we must content ourselves with considering what it is not, rather than what it is. He, nevertheless, seems to compare heaven to a temple or palace, in which we observe ministers and servants all in their proper order, his counsellors (if we may be allowed the expression) and friends seated in presence of their prince, and the souls of the just singing the praises of the Most High. (Car.)
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In the liturgy The Epistle vpon Al hallovves day.
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It is an allusion to the signe of the Crosse vvhich the faithful beare in their foreheads, to shevv they be not ashamed of Christ. S. August. tract. 43. in Io.
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Of al the tribes put together, so many, 144000.
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He signifieth by these thousands and the multitude folowing al the elect: but the elect of the Ievves, to be in a certaine number: the elect of the Gentiles to be innumerable.
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The elect of the Gentiles.
Boughes of the palme tree be tokens of triumph and victorie.
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In the liturgy The Epistle for many Martyrs.
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The glorie of Martyrs.
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Concordance Esa. 49, 10.
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Concordance Es. 25, 8.
Concordance Apo. 21, 4.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 1.1
… This may be more plainly gathered from John in his Apocalyse, though the other prophets also do not by any means conceal the state of matters from those who have the faculty of hearing them. John speaks as follows:
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 1.2
These, then, who are sealed on their foreheads
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St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 6.5
… for the Word says that the company of virgins always follow the Lord, and have fellowship with Him wherever He is. And this is what John signifies in the commemoration of the hundred and forty-four thousand.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 3.35
… or when multiplied into themselves, as ten into ten gives one hundred, and twelve into twelve gives one hundred and forty-four, which last number is used in the Apocalypse to signify the whole body of the saints.
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.30.2
… the whole earth shall be moved by the voice of the neighing of his galloping horses: he shall also come and devour the earth, and the fulness thereof, the city also, and they that dwell therein.” This, too, is the reason that this tribe is not reckoned in the Apocalypse along with those which are saved.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.40
… These are they who have not defiled themselves with women, for they continued virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth: for they were redeemed from among men, first-fruits to God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth was found no guile, and they are without spot.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 11
… And I said unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.17
… and He who sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall neither hunger nor thirst ever; and neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor shall they suffer any heat: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall protect them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life; and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 1.5
… For let us consider what he means when discoursing of the rest. “I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 93.30
… shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God.” God, moreover, presents unto Himself a “numerous people, zealous of good works.” And in the Apocalypse, many thousands “which no man can number,” from every tribe and tongue, are seen clothed in white robes, and with palms of victory.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 61
… No. But the “few” are themselves the “many;” “few” in comparison of the lost, “many in the society of the Angels. Hearken, dearly Beloved. The Apocalypse hath this written; “After this I beheld of all languages, and nations, and tribes, a great multitude, which no man can number, coming with white robes and palms.”
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.6
… Or else let them say to which of them He has given it. Certainly not to the angels; of whom Scripture says that all the angels stood round about the throne.
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Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 12
… For yet again a countless throng are revealed, clothed in white and distinguished by palms of victory, celebrating their triumph doubtless over Antichrist, since one of the elders says, “These are they who come out of that great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus pref.3
… a proceeding which will be of advantage to individuals with increased benefit. For if I were to give a man a garment finished and ready, it would be my garment that another was making use of, and probably the thing made for another would be found little fitting for his figure of stature and body. But now I have sent you the very wool and the purple
Sulpicius Severus † AD 420 The Letters of Sulpitius Severus 2
… For he is now mingling among the Apostles and Prophets, and (with all respect for the saints on high be it said) he is second to no one in that assembly of the righteous as I firmly hope, believe, and trust, being joined especially to those who washed their robes in the blood of the
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 58
“Everlasting joy,” says Isaiah, “shall be upon their heads.” Well, there is nothing eternal until after the resurrection. “And sorrow and sighing,” continues he, “shall flee away.” The angel echoes the same to John: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 15
… and made them righteous, and sons, and led them to the very highest honors, and brought to pass things which had never been hoped for: how should He, after having achieved all this, and having shown our nature on the King’s throne, require to be a suppliant to do the easier things? ( Acts vii. 55 ; Heb. x. 12 ;
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1. AFTER THIS I SAW FOUR ANGELS STANDING ON THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH, HOLDING THE FOUR WINDS OF THE EARTH, THAT THE WINDS SHOULD NOT BLOW UPON THE EARTH, NOR UPON THE SEA, NOR UPON ANY TREE. — There are four primary winds, blowing from the four parts of the world, namely the North Wind from the North, the South Wind from the South, the East Wind from the East, the West Wind and Favonius from the West. And the ancients named only these four, as Pliny testifies, lib. II, cap. XLVII. But in later centuries sailors subdivided these four into many others, and added two, indeed four lateral winds to each. You will ask, who are these four angels and four winds? Ambrose answers first that the four angels are the Roman Empire, ruling over the four winds, that is, the regions of the world. So also Primasius, Ansbert, Anselm and Bede understand by the four angels the four principal kingdoms of the world, which, when Christ came into the world, held the winds, that is, the peace, joy, riches and comforts of the world, because by their robberies and slaughters they afflicted men. Second, Aureolus and Lyran: The four angels, they say, were four tyrants in the time of Constantine, namely Maximinus in the East, Severus in Italy, Licinius in Egypt, Maxentius in Rome, who held the winds, that is, the teachers, lest they should spread the faith of Christ. Thus also nearly Ambrose, Primasius, Bede, Anselm, Richard, Ansbert, Rupert, Hugh, Dionysius, Pannonius and Viegas. Third and better, Andrew of Caesarea, Ribera and Pererius properly understand the angels as ministers of God's justice who at the end of the world will afflict the wicked, just as by earthquake, darkening of the sun and stars, so also by restraint of winds, and the greatest calm, so that not even a leaf of a tree is shaken. Which is a great plague: for by this it is necessary that first, the sea cannot be navigated; second, that fruits cannot attain timely ripeness; third, that the air, thick and infected, cannot be purified, nor thinned, but must be corrupted and putrefy; and consequently fourth, all things that live on earth must waste away, fail and die. For winds by their blowing foster all living things, as Seneca beautifully teaches, lib. V Natural. Quaest. t. XVIII. Whence vers. 3, John explains the same thing saying: "Hurt not the earth and the sea," namely by holding the winds, lest they blow upon the earth. Fourth and best, Alcazar thinks these Angels were as it were four Aeoluses, lords of the winds, who restrain them as if raging with bonds and prison, as Virgil says, lest they blow and rage upon the earth. Whence these angels are called in Greek κρατούντας, that is, holding and restraining the winds, just as one who holds and restrains a rabid mastiff, lest released it rush upon those in its way; in which manner Virgil calls Aeolus the mighty one of tempests. Therefore these angels would harm the earth, not by holding, but by releasing the winds: for these released with violent and mad roaring would stir up a most savage tempest. It is proved first, because what is said here, that these angels held the winds lest they blow, was commanded and ordered to them before the servants of God were sealed; therefore this very thing was not a plague, but rather a restraint of the plague: for soon the angel commands them that they inflict no plague upon the earth until the servants of God are sealed; the restraint therefore of the winds preceded the plague, and consequently was not a plague. Second, although calm and restraint of winds inflict some damage, yet that same is slow, remiss and languid: but winds inflict much more vehement and horrible damage, and that suddenly, if all reins are loosened to them, so that they prostrate trees, houses, temples, towers and palaces; such a tempest we saw a few years ago in Belgium on the other side of Easter. For thus Daniel says, cap. VII, vers. 2: "Behold the four winds of heaven strove upon the sea." Third, the restraint of winds harmed equally the sealed and the unsealed; therefore it is said to them in vain: "Hurt not the earth and the sea, etc., until we seal the servants of our God." It is otherwise in the releasing of winds: in this they are commanded to release and moderate them so that they stir up tempests which strike the wicked, but do not touch the pious and sealed. The sense therefore is, as if to say: You, O four angels, who preside over the four winds, and prepare to release them so that tempests may be stirred up by which the most impious men of this age at the end of the ages are struck, restrain them until we seal the servants of our God, so that namely about to release them soon, you release and direct them so that they strike only the wicked and their houses, gardens and trees, but abstain from the sealed. Note here that four angels preside over the four winds, as they proceed from the four parts of the world, namely one over each; therefore one presides over the Eastern wind, the second over the Western, the third over the Northern, the fourth over the Southern. We learn therefore here that winds and their motions and turnings are not so much stirred up, driven and directed by vapor or any other natural cause (which is difficult to explain or to grasp with the mind: hence Aristotle and all the Physicists labor in this matter), but rather by angels. For God through angels rules and moderates the world, just as a master through a charioteer rules and moderates horses and a chariot. Moreover, that these winds, storms and tempests are rightly placed in the sixth seal and joined with the darkening of the sun, moon and stars is evident from the fact that Christ joins all these things together in Luke XXI, 25, saying: "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves;" for the winds will excite this roaring and these waves. Wherefore Alcazar does not rightly refer these winds to the seventh seal, and thinks that they are the same as it: for he holds that the seven plagues contained in the seventh seal are nothing other than a division of these winds, or of the storm excited by them, into seven storms or clouds: for these clouds will be excited by four contrary winds, conflicting with one another. For that these winds are a different and distinct plague from those seven plagues of the seventh seal is evident both from what has been said and from the very seven plagues themselves, as is clear to one observing them in chapter VIII; for, for example, the fourth plague, which is described there, verse 12, namely the striking of the sun, moon and stars, could not have been excited by the force of winds: nor the fifth, which is described in chapter IX, verse 1, namely the opening of the abyss: nor the sixth, verse 14, namely the loosing of the four angels, who are bound in the Euphrates. That Alcazar interprets these plagues as ignorance, concupiscence and wrath inflicted by God upon the Jews is evident to be mystical, not literal. You will ask whether these four angels are good or evil, namely demons? Our Martin Delrio, book II On Magic, Question XI, holds them to be Alastor demons, that is, fierce and cruel demons, and cites in support of this opinion Clement of Rome, book IV of the Recognitions; Jerome, book VII on Isaiah; Augustine, book V Against Julian, chapter III, and others. The reason is, because they cause harm: therefore they seem to be evil. But this reasoning does not conclude: for even good angels caused harm, when they burned Sodom as avengers of God, Genesis XIX. Again, through these same angels many other plagues will be sent upon the world at the end of the age, as will be evident in chapter VIII and following. Add that, when angels are evil, Scripture is accustomed to add to them some epithet alienating them, or from the circumstances sufficiently signifying that they are understood to be not good but evil. Finally, these angels are the proper and direct executors of divine providence, and in its place are presiders over the winds, so that they might moderate and direct them, especially for punishing the impious and for protecting the pious: therefore they are good, not evil. This is confirmed, because in Ezekiel I, God borne in a Cherubic chariot, attended by four Cherubim (who were certainly good, not evil), proceeds to destroy Jerusalem: therefore in like manner through good angels He will accomplish the final plagues, by which He will complete the destruction of the world. Thus Alcazar, Ribera, Pererius and others. "That they should not blow," — until by the will of God being known, the angels would release them to blow; but they learned this here through another angel saying: "Hurt not the earth nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads." Whence it is clear that, after the servants of God were sealed, the angels truly released the winds, and through them inflicted grave storms and disasters upon the impious: although this was not actually narrated in what follows. Note here morally that God through angels so moderates the force and blows of lightning, thunder, winds, hail and other storms, that they touch this one, not that one; this field, not that one; this city or region, not that one; especially so that they afflict the impious and their fields and goods, not the pious, as we see commanded and done here. This is what the Psalmist says in Psalm CXLVIII, 8: "Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy wind, which fulfill His word." Wherefore when it thunders, lightens, hails, etc., let the impious fear, and through contrition, or even confession reconcile themselves to God, lest they be touched by these His plagues. When therefore He says: "That they should not blow," He means not a common and ordinary blowing, but a most violent and vehement one, so that the winds seem to rage and excite most savage storms and tempests, by which they inflict the gravest disasters and damages both at sea and on land upon the impious. For such will they be at the end of the world.
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2. AND I SAW ANOTHER ANGEL ASCENDING FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN, HAVING THE SIGN OF THE LIVING GOD. — Who is this? First, Ambrose holds that this angel is Christ, because by Isaiah, chapter IX, according to the Septuagint, he is called "the Angel of great counsel," and by Zacharias, chapter VI, verse 12, "the Man rising." The cry of this angel signifies the efficacy of Christ, by which he brought it about that at his nativity, wars being removed, there was peace everywhere, so that in this way he might more quickly spread his Gospel among all nations. To this is referred the exposition of Ansbert, Primasius, Haymo, Anselm, Richard and Bede, who hold that this angel is Christ, who ascended from the rising of the sun, because he rose in the morning, and immediately sent his Apostles to illuminate the world. By his cry he restrains demons, lest they impede the preaching of the Gospel. Second, Alcazar holds that this angel is the Holy Spirit, who marks the faithful with himself and his grace, and keeps them free and unharmed from every plague; or rather that this angel is the grace of the Holy Spirit itself: for this formally marks the faithful and the saints. Third, Aureolus and Lyra understand by this angel Constantine the Great, who defeated the four tyrants already mentioned, who were impeding the preaching of the Gospel: from which a great peace, joy and propagation of the Church followed. He has the sign of the living God, that is, the sign of the cross, which was given to him from heaven as he was about to fight against Maxentius, as an omen of victory with this inscription: In this sign thou shalt conquer. Whence then many were baptized, and in baptism were marked by priests with the sign of the cross. Fourth, Victorinus and Gagneius understand by this angel Elias, who, with the Antichrist raging, will oppose him and his angels, that is, his ministers, and will convert many to Christ, and will mark and distinguish them with the cross of Christ. This opinion is plausible in appearance. Fifth, St. Bonaventure, in the prologue of the Life of St. Francis, asserts that this angel is St. Francis and his followers the Franciscans. For St. Francis bore before him the sign of the living God, namely the cross, when he felt the sacred stigmata of the crucified Christ impressed upon his body from heaven. The same the Franciscans bear before them, namely the sign of penitential cross, and a habit conformed to the cross, so that they might excite all to penance and the embrace of the cross. St. Bernardine writes that this was certainly revealed to St. Bonaventure, tom. II, serm. 60, at the beginning. The same says Pope Leo X, and others, whose words and opinions Sedulius cites in the praises of St. Francis, and Antonius Daça, lib. De Stigmatibus. Sixth and best, Ribera and Pererius hold that this was a true angel. He is said to have ascended, because he had previously descended from heaven, and was on earth, so that he might care for and protect the salvation of men. Again, because he seemed to rise with the sun as it were, and to ascend to the horizon, in which St. John was: wherefore he is said to have ascended "from the rising of the sun," both because he came to announce joyful and prosperous things, and because he brought new joy, and as it were light. For to be born from the East is the same as to rise like a new sun, to illuminate those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Just as of the Jews freed from Haman and from death it is said, "that a new light seemed to rise for them," Esther VIII, 16. And Malachi, chapter IV, verse 2, says: "And unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings." This angel has a "sign," in Greek σφραγίδα, that is, a seal, which he might imprint on the foreheads of the elect, "of the living God," who namely will save his own from the common destruction prepared for the impious at the end of the world and will vivify them. For the word "living" is an epithet of God. For God is himself uncreated life, which is the source and author of all the life of angels, men, animals and plants, both natural, and spiritual, and blessed, and glorious. What this sign was, I shall now say.
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3. UNTIL WE SIGN THE SERVANTS OF OUR GOD IN THEIR FOREHEADS. — He alludes to servants, or slaves, which formerly were marked by their master with a brand impressed on the forehead, just as cattle, so that if they fled, or wandered, or were captured, from the brand it might be known whose servant or master they were, and they might be returned to him. Thus Paul says that he bears the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body, Galatians chapter VI. See the sayings at Ezekiel IX, 4. Again and rather, he alludes, says Pererius, first, to the blood of the Paschal Lamb, by which the houses of the Hebrews were marked, lest they be struck by the angel slaying the firstborn of the Egyptians, Exodus XII. Second, he alludes to the title of the high priest's tiara: for inscribed on the tiara was this title: "Holy to the Lord," Exodus XXVIII, so that from it as a sign it might be known that he was the priest of the holy God. Third and chiefly, he alludes to the sign tau, by which those mourning in Jerusalem were marked, and that on the forehead, Ezekiel IX, 4. Whence it follows that this sign was the sign of the cross of Christ: for the letter tau had the form of this; this sign also was impressed on the houses and doors of the Hebrews, as St. Jerome teaches in Isaiah LXVI, whose words I cited at Exodus XII, 7. The reason is, because no one can be freed from eternal death (which by these plagues and this temporal death to be inflicted on the Antichristians is signified and begun) except by the virtue of the cross of Christ, and unless he be marked with this sign of the cross. Finally, he alludes to the fourth book of Ezra, chapter II, verse 38: "Rise up, and stand, and see the number of those that are signed at the feast of the Lord;" concerning which more at verse 14, at the end. The word "sign" tacitly contains a command, by which this angel orders others to sign with him the servants of God. Whence the Arabic version renders it, "until you sign the servants of God upon their foreheads." The angels therefore will sign the elect at the end of the world with the sign of the cross: First, through priests visibly consigning them with the sign of the cross in Baptism and Confirmation. Second, spiritually by inducing and exhorting them through themselves and through the preachers of the Gospel to free, public and steadfast profession of faith and of the cross of Christ before the Antichristians and other his enemies even unto death. For the forehead is the symbol of this public profession. For, as Cicero says, On Seeking the Consulship: "The forehead is the gate of the soul;" whence also the forehead is called from bearing (although Varro derives it from the openings of the eyes, which are in the forehead), because it bears forth the signs of the soul either cheerful, or sad, or fearful, or bold, as Pliny says, book XI, chapter XXXVII. Hence again ostentation is in the forehead, says Cicero; whence he himself in the first oration against Catiline says: "Let," he says, "be inscribed on the forehead of each citizen, what he thinks concerning the republic." God therefore loves and marks the bold-faced, the spirited and resolute professors of his worship. This marking is spiritual, and is done through the grace of Christ. Whence concerning it Paul says, Ephesians I, 13: "You are signed with the Holy Spirit of promise;" and chapter IV, verse 30: "You are signed in the Holy Spirit of God." And concerning Christ John says, chapter VI, verse 27: "Whom the Father hath signed, God." Clearly indeed Paul, II Corinthians I, 21: "Who," he says, "confirmeth us with you in Christ, and who hath anointed us God: who also hath signed us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts." See the sayings there. Thirdly, Andrew of Caesarea: "In the time," he says, "of Antichrist, the faithful will distinguish and separate themselves from the unfaithful and Antichristians by the sign of the cross. For then the faithful will fearlessly and without shame bear the sign of Christ's cross in their sight, just as the Catholic Swiss carry and wear crosses and rosaries publicly, so that among heretics they may profess their faith and show themselves to be orthodox, worshippers of Christ and the Virgin Mother of God." For the Greek σφραγίδα signifies a visible and expressed seal. The same is required by "in their foreheads": for a sign on the forehead is visible and conspicuous to all. Thus on Ash Wednesday, all Christians in the Church are signed on the forehead with an ashen cross: indeed all, when they rise, when they pray, when they dine, when they work, and often otherwise throughout the day, sign themselves with the cross on the forehead. So customary and ancient is this practice that Tertullian, in his book On the Crown of the Soldier, chapter III, says: "At every step and advancement, at every entrance and exit, at dressing and putting on shoes, at baths, at tables, at lights, at bedtime, at sitting, whatever our daily life involves, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross." Note: He does not say "we sign," but "we wear away"; for they signed their foreheads so frequently that they seemed to wear it away. The same is taught by St. Cyprian, epistle 63, and book III of Testimonies to Quirinus, chapter XXII, and others whom Pamelius cites there against the Calvinists. In a similar manner therefore the angels at the end of the world will "sign" by their suggestion, that is, will stir up the faithful and saints so that they sign themselves with the sign of the cross, and form, paint or wear it visibly on the forehead, as a symbol of Christ and Christianity, by which they may distinguish themselves from Antichristians and all the impious. In the same way Christian soldiers with Godfrey of Bouillon, St. Louis and others, about to fight in ten expeditions for the recovery of the Holy Land against the Saracens, bore as the insignia of holy war the sign of the cross, as even now some Orders bear it. Whence these expeditions were called Crusades, concerning each of which Gretser treats at length, volume III On the Cross, book II throughout. Thus also Bishops wear a golden or silver cross, and the Supreme Pontiff himself a diamond one, even while celebrating, on his breast. For these, as leaders of the faithful in holy war for the defense of Christ's cross, ought to be strong as diamonds. Finally, if anyone wishes to contend properly and literally, as the words sound, that the angels will sign the faithful by themselves, namely by designating and denoting them through the sign of the cross, which they will form and imprint invisibly and spiritually on their foreheads; and this so that by this designation and denotation the angels, about to inflict the following plagues, may know whom they ought to strike, whom to pass by and preserve: if anyone, I say, holds this view and thus expounds this passage, I will not engage in contentious dispute with him. For angels are ignorant of the secrets of hearts and consciences, nor do they see in them the grace and gifts of God: for these depend on the free will of man (which God alone penetrates, who searches the reins and hearts). Wherefore they do not know whether someone is God's servant and friend; much less do they know whether someone is predestined and chosen for glory, unless God reveals this to them or indicates it by some sign. Wherefore the Saints are commanded here to be signed, so that from this sign the avenging angels may know them, and may mark them in their mind and memory, so that they may keep them unharmed from the plagues. But what is more true in this matter, I shall shortly indicate. The faithful are therefore marked here both on their foreheads and in the minds of the angels—those who at the end of the world, when iniquity shall abound, and especially in the persecution of Antichrist, shall suffer most grievously, and yet remain strong and steadfast in faith and piety, and are therefore chosen for eternal life. They are marked, I say, by the special providence and grace of God for this purpose, that they may not be involved in the common calamities of the world, nor suffer with the impious reprobate the same evils and plagues which the angels shall inflict upon them, but may be exempted from these. To this marking and sealing the Bridegroom invites the Bride, saying in Canticles VIII: "Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm." Which St. Ambrose, in the book On Isaac, chapter VIII, explains thus: "The seal," he says, "is Christ on the forehead, a seal on the heart, a seal on the arm: on the forehead, that we may always confess; on the heart, that we may always love; on the arm, that we may always work." Wherefore Origen, homily 8 on Various Texts: "Rejoicing," he says, "let us lift up this sign (of the cross) on the forehead, which the demons, when they see it, tremble at. For those who do not fear golden capitols fear the cross." For the sign of the cross is a silent invocation, and equally a profession of Christ crucified. Hence by the holy Fathers it is called the glory of the forehead, a faithful sign, heavenly arms, a Christian helmet, a fortification of life, a great good, a saving armor, an impregnable shield, a sword and royal scourge, which puts to flight every assault of the devil; a life-giving sign, an insuperable armor of Christians, an immortal standard, at the sight of which demons tremble. Our Gretser cites the Fathers, book IV On the Cross, chapter LXIV. Thus marked with the sign Tau on the forehead was the Reverend Father Henry Garnet, of the Society of Jesus, martyr of England. "For when he had presided over the Society in England for twenty years with great praise in the daily perils of death, at length in the year of the Lord 1606, on the third day of May, he died a glorious martyrdom for the Catholic faith. A Catholic who was present as a spectator reverently took up a stalk of grain purpled with blood from the straw beneath the martyr's body: when he beheld it at home more attentively, he perceived the vivid image of the Father expressed in it. An immense crown encircled the crown of the head. A cross shone on the forehead enclosed in a star, the seal surely of that heart, in which a bundle of myrrh dwelt; so that he also obtained the palm of martyrdom on the day dedicated to the desired Finding of the Cross. Beneath the chin a winged Cherub was seen, indicating either his angelic purity, or his wisdom and learning, or both. Because indeed he instructed many unto justice, he is adorned with the laurel of Doctors, and as a star shines among the Cherubim for eternal ages. This image of his face in the grain has been often reproduced and scattered throughout all provinces of Christians." That this miraculous effigy endures even now in the prototype, grave and eyewitness men have constantly affirmed to me. In the first times of the Church it was the custom for Christians to burn the sign of the cross, or the name of Jesus, into the flesh with glowing marks, as Procopius testifies in chapter XLIV of Isaiah. "St. Wenceslaus, king and martyr of Bohemia, when as a youth he lived an angelic life in the court of the Emperor Otto, and was therefore despised by the other princes, was divinely marked with a golden cross, and was brought by angels into the sight of the Emperor: seeing which the Emperor was moved, received him into his company, and honored him with the arm of St. Vitus and great gifts. This marking with the cross was a foretoken of his martyrdom, which he himself suffered bravely before the doors of the temple while praying, struck down by his brother Boleslaus, who coveted his crown and the kingdom of Bohemia, in the year of the Lord 938." Thus Aeneas Sylvius, who was afterwards created Pontiff and called Pius II, in the History of Bohemia, XIV, Baronius, in the year already mentioned, and others. You will ask whether this marking shown to John is to be only future in reality, or whether it was only an imaginary vision, to be future only imaginarily? I answer that it was an imaginary vision. This is evident first from the fact that he says: "And I saw." St. John therefore saw himself seeing an angel crying out and saying: "Hurt not the earth, etc., till we sign the servants of our God." And immediately he saw him signing each one individually, and collecting the number of those signed, 144 thousand. Second, because in verse 9 he likewise saw in heaven with palms, robes and crowns, the souls of the faithful Gentiles, who were still living on earth, and would be signed equally as the Jews, lest they be harmed by the angel who presides over the winds, who through the winds would bring destruction upon the world. Therefore all these things were an imaginary vision. For these souls were not blessed, but to be blessed, nor did they truly have, or were about to have crowns, palms and robes, since they are souls and spirits; but through these things their victory and glory were symbolically represented to John. Third, because John plainly alludes to Ezekiel IX, where the pious who groan are marked with the sign Tau, whom God wished to be kept unharmed in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. But that marking was only imaginary, as I said there. For in the vision Ezekiel saw only those who groaned being marked by an angel, and the marked being preserved, the unmarked being killed: so that by this it might be signified that the pious who groan, as if marked and protected by an angel, would be immune from the slaughter of the Chaldeans; but all others, as impious, were to be killed by them. Such precisely was also this vision of those marked exhibited to John. The reason is that angels, since they are pure spirits, do not need the sign Tau, the cross or other sensible things, in order to know who are the servants of God and are to be preserved, who are not; but the slightest indication of God or of another angel, or revelation, suffices for them. At the end of the world, therefore, God either by himself or through an angel will indicate to the angels who are to bring plagues, and will say: Do not strike such and such, for example such a Peter, James, John, Agnes; for these are my servants and friends. From this indication, the angels will mark them in mind and memory, and will take care not to bring plagues upon them: therefore the angels will not mark them visibly on their foreheads. This imaginary vision, however, had a foundation in reality, and signified a real marking, by which the Saints at the end of the world, both in Baptism and Confirmation; and through persecution and the endurance of martyrdoms, and in these the public profession of faith in Christ crucified; and properly through the formation and bearing of the sign of the cross in actual fact will be marked with the cross, as I said a little before, and this so that they might show themselves to be servants of God and of Christ crucified: show themselves, I say, not to the avenging angels, but to men, especially to the ministers and followers of Antichrist: for before them they will profess their faith and Christian religion, whose symbol is the cross; just as on the other hand Antichrist will mark his followers with his own sign and character: of which we shall hear, chapter XIII, verse 16. The cross therefore is the seal of the friends and elect of God, and for this reason is not to be fled, but to be desired; as I have shown to many in Ezekiel IX, 4. For God, together with the cross, gives strength and consolation, to bear it gladly and bravely, as St. Teresa used to say. This is indeed what he himself promised, saying in Psalm XC: "I am with him in tribulation." Hence prudent and holy men daily pray through the cross, and that God would increase it daily, and send ever greater. For they are certain first, that through this grace and spiritual strength will likewise be added to them; second, that they will be more like Christ crucified, and therefore most pleasing to God. For if anything were more pleasing to God than the cross, surely he would have given it to his Son. Third, through the cross patience, humility, charity and all virtues grow. "For virtue grows through the wound." Wherefore just as lime is kindled by water, so humble endurance and charity are more kindled and inflamed by affliction and persecution. This is what Paul said: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also by Christ doth our consolation abound," II Corinthians chapter 1, verse 5. And the Psalmist: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy consolations have given joy to my soul," Psalm XCIII, verse 19. Wherefore St. Teresa continually begged of God: "Lord, give either to suffer or to die." And St. Xavier in shipwrecks, persecutions and other dangers and greatest hardships prayed: "Lord, do not take this cross from me, unless thou givest a greater." For Christ in this life is not found, nor appears, except in the cross, as St. Martin used to say, according to Sulpicius. And this is the reason why the Martyrs were so eager for torments and martyrdom, that they went to them as if to joyful feasts, indeed they ran to them. It is remarkable what we read in the acts of the holy Ruffina and Secunda, sisters and martyrs, on the 10th of July. For when the judge ordered Ruffina to be beaten severely with scourges in the presence of Secunda, so that he might crush her and bend her will, Secunda, inflamed with the desire of suffering for Christ, addressed the judge with a great and steadfast voice in these words: "What are you doing, O perverse one, and enemy of all virtue? Why do you honor my sister with torment, and leave me untouched, so that I may not be a partaker of her crown and glory?" To which the judge replied: "You seem to be more foolish than your sister." She said: "Neither is my sister foolish, nor am I; because we are both Christians, and therefore it is right that we both be beaten for Christ: for the spirit and fortitude of Christians grows in blows and torments." And when the judge threatened her with the violence of rape, she answered: "A virgin cannot lose her virginity unless she herself casts it away from her mind and consents to the crime. For if indeed violence be inflicted upon her unwilling, that is a torment: but torment increases the reward and crown. Do therefore what you will; prepare fires, swords, gallows, racks, beasts: the more torments you give, the more, and equally thus you will increase our crown." Wherefore both were cast into boiling oil, but came out unharmed, were thrown into the Tiber; there also they were preserved by an angel, and finally by the cutting off of their heads they achieved glorious martyrdom. Mystically, Matthias of Sweden, teacher of St. Bernardine of Siena, who explains the Apocalypse up to chapter XV spiritually, subtly and piously, and whose work exists with me in manuscript form: The servants, he says, of God are said to have upon their foreheads the sign of divine contemplation, just as in verse 9 they are said to have in their hands the palms of good action. On the contrary, the servants of Antichrist, in chapter XIII, are said to have the character of the beast in their right hand and upon their foreheads: which character is perverted action in deed, and the study of malice in mind. The faithful are signed, or rather sign themselves with the sign of the cross, who strictly command their desires and mortify and crucify them, so that they may become pious and spiritual men, and imitate the cross of Christ: for by this sign the spirit of Christ marks them, and by this means they remain immune and free, so that no vexation touches them, none of the seven plagues of the angels; free therefore from hunger, war, plague, ignorance, lusts, furies and hardness of heart: for although they feel them, or are sometimes tempted by them, yet by the love and virtue of the cross of Christ they bear all things bravely and overcome them. Wherefore St. Tauler in the little work which he entitled Prophecy, page 671: "The sign," he says, "of Tau upon their foreheads have all who through living faith in Christ are found in a certain beginning and progress of a better life: and these shall be immune from those plagues which John describes in chapter IX, under obscure words indeed, but more clearly than light detected by the Blessed Hildegard." Up to this point I have not found these things in the works of the Blessed Hildegard. SERVANTS,—either those who are already servants, or those who shortly after are to be converted, and are to become servants of Christ, namely firm and constant unto the end of life. For these in the foreknowledge of God already exist, and are signed. For, as the Apostle says in II Timothy II, 19: "The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows who are His; and let every one depart from iniquity that names the name of the Lord." See the things said there.
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Verse 4. AND I HEARD THE NUMBER OF THEM THAT WERE SEALED, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND. Many think that here a definite number is put for an indefinite one. Whence first, Aureolus and others hold that by this number it is signified that very many would be converted in the time of the Emperor Constantine, both from Jews and from Gentiles; for the Jews are said to be sealed and numbered, but the innumerable multitude in verse 9 are the Gentiles. But, because few Jews were converted to Christ in the time of Constantine, as also afterwards, hence Lyra understands by Israel any faithful ones whatsoever, both from Gentiles and from Jews. For these are Israel according to the spirit, not according to the flesh; and these were very many in the time of Constantine. Secondly, Primasius, Ambrose, Haymo, Ausbert, Anselm, Bede, Ribera, Richard, understand this number mystically: for they hold that by it is signified the number of all the elect. For these are the sons of Israel and of the twelve Patriarchs: sons, I say, either natural, as the Jews; or spiritual through the imitation of faith, as the Gentiles. To this Alcazar subscribes, but in such a way that he understands this number, not universally of all the elect in any age to come, but only of the first Christians who were living at that time when the seven plagues were poured out upon the obstinate Jews (as he holds) denying Christ. Christians, I say, both Jews and Gentiles. For these equally as those are spiritual and true Israelites, and sons of the twelve Apostles, who are the true Patriarchs of Israel of God. Judah therefore, he says, is Peter, freely and truly confessing Christ, that He is the Son of the living God: Benjamin is John, the least and last of the apostles living in this life: Manasseh, that is, forgetfulness, is Matthew, because he forgot his toll-booth. Dan is omitted, because it befits Judas the traitor, whose reprobation was a most hidden document of God's judgment. In his place Levi succeeds, that is, Matthias. To each of these are assigned twelve thousand, because each converted very many, according to that saying of Isaiah LX, 22: "The least shall become a thousand, and the smallest a most strong nation." He adds at the end of the chapter that he suspects that by this number of 144 thousand, not all the first faithful, but only the principal ones, namely those who were companions of the Apostles in preaching and propagating the Gospel, and the leaders of the faithful are signified: whence to them is assigned the number twelve, because this is the number of the college of the Apostles, whose officers and as it were companies they were. But the text is opposed to this: for it says, "Until we seal the servants of God," not leaders, as Alcazar himself admits: who therefore finally withdraws from this suspicion to his former exposition. But since, as I said at the beginning of the chapter, all these things pertain to the sixth seal, and in it are conjoined with the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars and the recession of heaven, etc., and therefore pertain to the end of the world and to the times of Antichrist: hence it follows that this number of 144 thousand sealed ones is only of those who at the end of the world, both before Antichrist, and under him, and especially after him slain (for these will be very many) will be converted to Christ and will be saved. For then all Israel shall be saved, says the Apostle, Rom. chapter XI, with Elijah preaching to them, as Malachi predicted, chapter IV: thus Irenaeus, book V, chapter IX, and chapter XXX, Andrew of Caesarea, Pannonius, Ribera and Pererius. At the end therefore of the world from each of the tribes of the Jews, twelve thousand will be converted to Christ: for twelve thousand multiplied by twelve make 144 thousand. Note: This sealing, since it is of the sixth seal, will take place before Antichrist. For then the angels will seal, that is, will begin to seal, the elect (lest the devastation of the winds, as I said in verse 1, bring harm to them), and will continue to seal them even in the time of Antichrist itself, indeed after Antichrist: for then more will be converted; for all during this whole time, namely at the end of the world, to be sealed and chosen, are here described, and at the same time are numbered in this sixth seal, so that the complete number of them may be known, especially because in the mind, foreknowledge and predestination of God all, even those to come, are already sealed. For divine foreknowledge, in which John saw these things, embraces all times. Whence also John immediately after these sealed ones on earth, flies over to the multitude of Gentiles on earth equally sealed, but as it were existing in heaven, and already blessed and glorious; because namely, although it still remained on earth, nevertheless it was sealed and inscribed by God for that blessedness and glory, and would soon be made blessed and glorified by Him. You may ask whether at the end of the world precisely twelve thousand from each of the tribes of the Jews, no more and no fewer, are to be marked and saved, so that the Jews from all tribes to be saved will be precisely 144 thousand? Ribera affirms this, and adds that no one from the tribe of Dan (because it is here omitted) will be saved. More probably Andreas of Caesarea, Pererius and others think that more from each tribe are to be saved, and by twelve thousand all are signified. This is proved first, because it is not probable that from any tribe those about to be born at the end of the world will be equally and precisely in the same number to be saved, so that not even one more from Judah than from Reuben or another tribe should be born and saved; nor does it seem worthy of the majesty of the Apocalypse to descend to these precise minutiae, even if they were true. Second, it is not probable that no one at all from the tribe of Dan will be saved: for the Danites, when they see the Antichrist slain and themselves deceived by him, will curse him and consult for their salvation. Third, because the Apostle teaches in Romans XI, 26, that then all Israel will be saved; Israel, I say, not spiritual and faithful, as Ribera explains it, but carnal or natural: for the Apostle treats of this, as is evident to one who looks carefully. For he, abandoned by God to this point, will then be taken up and chosen by Him. This is what Christ says in Matthew, chapter XVII, 11, that "Elias will come, and will restore all things;" but all the Jews from one tribe will be more than twelve thousand, and all together will be more than 144 thousand. For formerly from one tribe of Judah there were six hundred thousand warriors, to whom if you add children, old men, women, and handmaids, you will easily have thirty hundred thousand, or three million men from Judah; indeed even now in one province alone you will find more than 144 thousand Jews. There will therefore be more Jews at the end of the world, and consequently more to be saved than 144 thousand: yet so many are named here, because truly so many, namely twelve thousand from each tribe, will be saved, but not only so many. For there will be many more: yet they are called twelve thousand, because the number twelve is a symbol of perfection and universality: for there were twelve Patriarchs of the old, and as many of the new Testament, namely the Apostles, to whose family all those to be marked will belong. Hear Bede, and from him Peter Bungus, in his book On the Mysteries of Numbers, concerning the number twelve: "Because in whatever virtues each of the faithful have made progress, it is necessary that they be always strengthened in faith by the ancients and formed by their examples. But to the increase of perfection belongs the very multiplication by twelve, and to be perfected to the sum of a thousand, which is the number ten squared solid (for ten times ten make a hundred: ten times a hundred make a thousand), signifying the stable life of the Church: wherefore also it is signified by twelve, because through the square world, that is, through the four cardinal points of the world, it consists in the faith of the Holy Trinity. For the number three multiplied four times makes twelve. Hence Christ chose twelve Apostles, so that the salvation of the world which they were about to preach by word, they might also represent by their number." So also St. Augustine in book III of On Christian Doctrine, XXXI, teaches that by the number 144 is signified universality. For it is a square: for twelve times twelve make 144. It signifies therefore the complete and perfect multiplication of the faithful Jews, and their wonderful harmony among themselves, and as it were a commensuration from the square and equal. The same teach other Interpreters throughout. See the symbols and attributes of the number twelve, which I reviewed at Ezekiel XLVIII, at the beginning of the chapter. Verse 4. From Every Tribe. Note: The tribe of Dan is here omitted, and in its place the tribe of Levi is put, says St. Jerome, book I Against Jovinian, because, as St. Irenaeus relates, book V, chapter XXX; St. Augustine, Question XXII in Joshua; Theodoret, last Question in Genesis; Ambrose, book On the Prediction of the Patriarchs, chapter VII; Hippolytus, tract On the Consummation of the Age; St. Gregory, XXXI Morals, XVIII; likewise Cyril, Isidore, Eucherius, Prosper, Rufinus and others, whom Ribera and Pererius cite; likewise Andreas, Haymo, Richard, Anselm, Bede, Rupert, Lyra and others here, from the tribe of Dan will arise the Antichrist, and therefore the Danites almost all will follow him as their fellow tribesman, just as the Simeonites followed Zambri, a leader of their tribe, in fornication and the worship of Beelphegor, and therefore that tribe was almost cut off by God, as I said in Numbers XXV. The Fathers cited prove this same point, first, from Genesis XLIX, 17: "Let Dan be a serpent in the way, a cerastes in the path;" which passage is understood either literally, or certainly allegorically of the Antichrist, as I have taught there. Second, from Jeremiah VIII, 16: "From Dan was heard the snorting of his horses; at the sound of the neighing of his warriors the whole land was moved." Which words speak literally of Nebuchadnezzar, allegorically of the Antichrist. Wherefore Abulensis does not rightly say in Genesis XLIX, 17, that this tradition is uncertain; worse does Oleaster say that it is fabulous; especially since it has its foundation in the sense of Holy Scripture, either literal or allegorical. For even now the Jews preserve their divisions and origins of tribes, so that one here says he is of the tribe of Judah, another of Levi, another of Dan, whether they say this truly or are deceived. Therefore most of the Danites, that is, those who will think and boast that they are of the tribe of Dan, will follow their kinsman the Antichrist, and therefore will perish: which is the reason why they are not sealed here.
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Verse 5. FROM THE TRIBE OF JUDAH. The order of birth is not observed here, nor the excellence of the tribes, but the order of conversion to Christ, says Ribera: for he thinks that at the end of the world the tribe of Judah is to be converted first, inasmuch as Christ was born from it, then the tribe of Reuben, then the tribe of Gad, and so the rest in order. But, although the reason given by him concerning the tribe of Judah is probable, no probable reason can be adduced concerning the order of the others; rather it appears that the Jews from all the tribes indiscriminately are to be converted to Christ when Elijah preaches. Ambrosius, Primasius, Rupertus, Beda and Viegas give a mystical reason for this order: Because, they say, in the conversion of man and spiritual life the first is Judah, that is, confession of true faith and of his sins. The second is Reuben, that is, son of vision. The sons of vision are the works of virtues which faith itself prescribes. The third is Gad, that is, girded to overcome temptations. For, as the Wise Man says: "My son, when thou comest to the service of God, prepare thy soul for temptation." The fourth is Asher, that is, blessed. "For blessed is the man," says St. James, "that endureth temptation: for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life." The fifth is Naphtali, that is, breadth: because he who has overcome temptations of the heart acquires great breadth and confidence in God. "Because," says Rupertus, "secure in the firm hope of this blessedness, they are not straitened, but rejoicing in firm hope, patient in tribulation, they sing with the Psalmist: In my trouble thou hast enlarged me. And again: I have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart. And with the mother of Samuel, exulting they say: My heart is enlarged over my enemies; therefore Naphtali succeeds, which is breadth, as if after temptation overcome and blessedness obtained, the enlargement of heart and mouth should follow." The sixth is Manasseh, that is, forgetfulness: because he who is victor in temptation experiences divine consolation, forgets all earthly things. The seventh is Simeon, that is, hearing: because he who forgets earthly things is capable of hearing and perceiving divine things. The eighth is Levi, that is, borrowed: because he who wholly aspires to God considers himself a stranger in the world, and as it were borrowed. The ninth is Issachar, that is, reward, which is owed in abundance to such a stranger. The tenth is Zebulun, that is, dwelling: because God dwells in such a one. The eleventh is Joseph, that is, addition or increase: because such a one grows daily in grace and virtue. The twelfth is Benjamin, that is, son of the right hand: because such a one is exalted to the right hand of God in heaven. Again we can, says Viegas, refer these to the Church. For she is in Judah, most strong in the confession of faith: in Reuben, fruitful in good works: in Gad, proved by temptations and persecutions: in Naphtali, enlarged in charity: in Manasseh, forgetting what is behind: in Simeon, illustrated by divine hearings and revelations: in Levi, illustrious in the celibacy of the continent: in Issachar, suspended in expectation of future reward: in Zebulun, the dwelling place of God himself: in Joseph, wonderfully propagated: in Benjamin, placed at the right hand of God. See also the sayings in Numbers I and II. Somewhat differently Matthias of Sweden, teacher of St. Bernard: God gives, he says, twelve graces and virtues to his servants, by which he orders them to divine contemplation, namely the first six pertain to purging evil thoughts, among which the first is Judah, that is, confession; the second Reuben, that is, knowledge; the third Gad, that is, promptness; the fourth Asher, that is, kindness; the fifth Naphtali, that is, breadth, namely broad goodness and beneficence; the sixth Manasseh, that is, forgetfulness of evils. The latter six are ordered to the illumination of the mind through good thoughts. In these the first is Simeon, that is, obedience; the second is Levi, that is, penance; the third Issachar, that is, prudence; the fourth Zebulun, that is, perseverance; the fifth Joseph, that is, wisdom; the sixth Benjamin, that is, charity.
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Verse 8. FROM THE TRIBE OF JOSEPH,—that is, from the tribe of Ephraim, who although younger, was preferred by his father Joseph, or rather by his grandfather Jacob, Genesis XLVIII, 14, to Manasseh the elder: whence he retained the name of his father as the more worthy. Hence the tribe of Ephraim was larger and more noble (because royal) than the tribe of Manasseh. Furthermore, it would have sufficed to say: From each of the twelve tribes twelve thousand were sealed; but he repeats this number through each tribe, saying: "From the tribe of Judah 12 thousand sealed, from the tribe of Joseph 12 thousand sealed," etc., both because this is the custom of the Hebrews, as I showed in Numbers VII, 18; and because God, equally as John, delights in this repetition of the lot of each so happy and blessed, and as it were caresses with the sealed themselves, so as to signify how much he esteems them, and at the same time honors and adorns them by addressing and designating them individually, and judges them to be most acceptable to himself. Thus Alcazar. Again, so as to show how much this sealing ought to be esteemed by us, and how much we ought to strive to be found among the sealed, namely so that through good works we may make our election and calling certain, as Peter says. For if we are found among the sealed, we have lived well; if not, it would be better never to have been born, it would be better to have been stones and brute beasts rather than men. Twelve Thousand Sealed. For sealed, in Greek ἐσφραγισμένα, that is, marked with a sign, sealed, sealed as it were with a seal; the word sealed in Greek is not expressed, except here at the end and at the beginning. The translator, however, rightly and faithfully repeated and expressed it in each tribe, because it is understood in each.
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Verse 9. AFTER THESE THINGS I SAW A GREAT MULTITUDE. Note: This multitude is distinguished from the 144 thousand sealed: for although Ticonius and Andreas seem to deny this, yet all others commonly assert it, and this is evident from the text; for the sealed are of a definite and certain number, namely 144 thousand, but this multitude is innumerable; those are from every tribe of the children of Israel, this from all nations: those therefore are Jews, these Gentiles. Whence John says of these: "After these things (after the numbered sealed Jews) I saw a great multitude," because the Gentiles were converted to the Church after the Jews at the beginning. For Christ was first promised to the Jews, justice and salvation: to them therefore the first place is given and owed. Wherefore Alcazar thinks less correctly that this multitude is the same as the sealed: as if those whom John previously heard numbered and sealed, he afterwards saw the same as an innumerable multitude. For he thinks the sealed Israelites are not carnal, but spiritual, namely the faithful both from the Gentiles and from the Jews of the primitive Church. You will say: Why then are the Jews sealed and numbered? but nothing of the sort is said of the Gentiles, who are equally sealed and numbered by God? I answer because the Jews, as I said, were first in the kingdom of God, and they were few, whence easily numbered; but the Gentiles were later, and they were many and as it were innumerable. Moreover, the Gentiles, equally as the Jews, were sealed. For this is understood from what was promised in verse 3: "Until we seal the servants of our God." Therefore when he says: "After these things I saw a great multitude from all nations," understand of the sealed; for these are what is being discussed: the word sealed, which is expressed in the Jews, is here understood in the Gentiles; just as conversely the robes, palms, glory and hymn-singing, which are attributed to the multitude of Gentiles in what follows, are to be understood as attributed by parity to the sealed Jews. You will ask: What is this great multitude? First, Ambrose, Ticonius and Bede think it to be all the Blessed, who enjoy the vision of God. Second, Joachim thinks it to be Martyrs slain in any age. Third, Lyra thinks it to be Martyrs slain by Diocletian. For these were so innumerable that in one month 17 thousand Christians were slain by him, according to Eusebius; and by Maximian the whole Theban legion at once. Fourth, Aureolus thinks it to be Gentiles converted to Christ in the time of the Emperor Constantine. But from what has been said it is evident that this pertains to Christian Gentiles, who will be holy at the end of the world, and therefore sealed and elect, and about to be untouched by the seven plagues of the angels of the seventh seal, of which in the following chapter. For these, although they were still warring on earth, yet John, foreseeing by the prophetic spirit their constancy and victory unto the end of life, saw likewise their glory and crown, and themselves as it were victors and conquerors in heavenly beatitude; clothed with crowns, robes, and palms, as I said at the beginning of the chapter. Thus Ribera and Pererius. Moreover, that the multitude of the Blessed will be great, it is permissible to gather from the vast number of Martyrs alone, which is nevertheless smaller than the other Saints. For under one Diocletian, in each month seventeen thousand Martyrs were slain: multiply this number by ten years, during which that persecution lasted, you will find two hundred thousand times ten, or two million Martyrs. Whence it does not exceed belief that we can on each day of the whole year honor the triumphs of Martyrs, as if crowned in heaven on such a day, up to thirty thousand. Indeed, from the monuments of ancient writings we read in book III of the Revelations of St. Brigid, that in Rome alone, on any day in the year, the feasts of seven thousand Martyrs can be celebrated. But concerning the holy Confessors, if they be joined with the Martyrs, in the same book of Revelations it is thus said: "If thou shouldst measure the earth a hundred feet in length, and as many in breadth, so that thou shouldst sow it full of pure grains of wheat, and each grain should yield fruit a hundredfold, there would still be more Martyrs and Confessors in Rome from the time of St. Peter until Celestine," namely the Supreme Pontiff of that age. And these revelations indeed obtained great authority among us and learned men, as John Cardinal of Turrecremata, who described them, testifies. What therefore will it be from Adam to our times, and not in one city Rome alone, but in the whole globe of the earth; not to recount Saints of one order or choir only, but all Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and Apostolic men, Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors, of every kind, age, sex and condition, the just and the elect? "Look up to heaven," God said to Abraham, "and number the stars if thou canst, so shall thy seed be. I will bless thee, and will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the shore of the sea." But this divine promise is to be referred not so much to carnal as to spiritual propagation: "for by that repeated comparison of heavenly stars," says St. Augustine in book XVI of the City of God, XXIII, "a posterity sublime in heavenly felicity seems to me more promised." Thus our Thomas Massutius, book VIII of Heavenly Conversation, chapter V. Indeed Thomas Bozius, On the Signs of the Church, book XII, chapter XXII, gathers from the histories and acts of Martyrs that in Rome alone there were more than three hundred thousand Martyrs, among whom twenty-seven Supreme Pontiffs were the foremost. Our Francis Arias, book III of the Imitation of Christ, chapters XXXII and following, running through each century, province and persecution, shows that the number of Martyrs was immense, and finally at the end of chapter XXXV concludes that easily thirty thousand Martyrs can be numbered and honored on any day of the year; which if you multiply by the years elapsed from Christ until now, will produce eleven million Martyrs. The same is the opinion of others with Genebrard in Psalm LXXVIII, verse 4. From what has been said it is permissible to estimate that at the end of the world the number of all the Saints and elect, who lived in any century anywhere among the nations, will make up several hundred millions: but the multitude of the reprobate will be far greater, which will make up not only several hundred but also thousands of millions. For often out of a thousand men, indeed out of ten thousand scarcely one is saved, as the revelations which I recounted prove in Number, chapter XIV, verse 30. Whom No One Could Number. Because it was gathered from all the nations of the whole world, and therefore immense, and as it were innumerable, since the Jews, being few, namely one nation only, have already been numbered, and one hundred forty-four thousand were found. It is a hyperbole: for it was truly finite, indeed small in respect to those perishing. Wherefore it could easily be numbered by an angel: yet it is said to be innumerable, because a man, for example John seeing it, could not number it. From All Nations and Tribes. The voice of the tribes does not signify that from every single particular family, some at the end of the world will be faithful and to be saved; but it is taken generically for large and famous families, which embrace a numerous people, and many particular families sprung from the same stock, such as are in Scotland and elsewhere. For Scotland is distributed into primary families of the Hamiltons, Gordons, Hays and others, so that each even plebeian knows from what family he is descended, and to which he belongs: and each family has its own head, namely the firstborn of the family, who is almost always an Earl or Baron: and in time of war, if for example dissension arises among the Earls, each follows his own tribe, and the head of his tribe and family, and defends his cause as his own, even unto death. He alludes to the twelve tribes of Israel: for these were such as I have already said, and therefore each one constituted an immense people. Again he alludes to the families and tribes of the sons of Noah, Genesis chapter X. For these in the building of the tower of Babel were dispersed and divided by God into various lands, equally as into languages, and produced various nations and peoples. Standing Before the Throne, and in the Sight of the Lamb. In Greek ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ Ἀρνίου, that is, before the throne and before the Lamb; therefore they are not only seen by God, but also see God and the Lamb: for they have eyes not closed, but open; therefore they are blessed. For they were on earth; but John through vision saw them as if blessed in heaven, because they were soon to be blessed by God, inasmuch as they were already beginning and anticipating, as it were, the purity, constancy, and imitation of heavenly life, his felicity and glory. Note the standing. For from this Blessed Peter Damian, book III, epistle 8, reproves the Archbishop of Besançon, because he permits clerics and laymen during the time of divine office in the church to sit: Because, he says, St. John here saw all the Saints, and in verse 11 all the Angels not sitting, but standing before God. Thus he saw them assisting him, not sitting, Daniel chapter VII, verse 10, and Isaiah saw the Seraphim, chapter VI, standing. "Where the Seraphim," he says, "do not dare to sit, does earthen man sit, and like the cloth of a menstruating woman, lurid and unclean?" Thus also Moses by the command of God stood before him, Deuteronomy V, 31, Exodus III, 5; thus also Elijah, III Kings XVIII, 15; and David, II Kings VI, 14; Aaron also and the Levites are commanded to stand in the sight of God, Numbers III, 6, both because standing is of the watchful, reverent and attentive, sitting of the drowsy, daring and sluggish; and because "when we pray, then as if in battle we fight against the temptations of malignant enemies." Whence Canticles VII, 1: "What wilt thou see," he says, "in the Sulamite, but the choirs of camps?" Clothed in White Robes. The white robe, as I said chapter VI, verse 11, was a garment of honor, glory and triumph. Hence it was the priestly garment, namely the fine linen tunic. And to this here there is an allusion; for he says in verse 14: "They have washed their robes, etc.; therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple." For the Saints in heaven will be kings and priests of God, as I said chapter V, verse 10. This robe therefore signifies in the Saints, first, the purity of conscience, chastity and whiteness; second, the serenity, cheerfulness and joy consequent thereupon; third, felicity and glory; fourth, hymns, thanksgivings and doxologies, which as priests they continually sing to God, who gave them victory, triumph and eternal glory. Whence St. Gregory on Mark XVI, where women coming to the sepulcher of Christ are said to have seen "an Angel covered with a white robe:" The white robe, he says, signifies the joy and solemnity of mind. Although at this place it is fitting to meditate piously and to admire these words and oracles of St. John. "I saw a great multitude." O multitude most orderly without confusion, greatest, most blessed! "Of all nations." O beautiful and variegated variety from so many nations! "And tongues." O harmonious music of all tongues, the discordant harmony and consonant concert of those praising God! "Standing before the throne." O august station of those beholding and contemplating God! "And in the sight of the Lamb." O glorious sight of those surrounding the Lamb, and accompanying him whithersoever he goes! "Clothed in white robes." O splendid robes of immortality and glory! "And palms in their hands." O magnificent palms of the triumphant! O noble victory and triumph! "And they cried with a loud voice." O joyful voices, o perpetual jubilations! It is asked here whether the robes were truly white, or rather purple? Peter Faber, in book II of his Agonistic, chapter XII, thinks that there is an allusion here to the hieronics, that is, to the sacred victors, namely to those who in sacred games and contests dedicated to Jupiter, Mars, Apollo and other gods, became victors, who were presented with white, and subsequently purple, robes. Therefore he thinks these robes were white and purple. Hear him: "St. John attributes white robes to the Martyrs, because this snowy and pure garment was once that of magistrates and priests, as Plutarch testifies: which nevertheless, tinged with the most pure blood of the Lamb, had imbibed the glowing redness of the most refined murex, as it were. For what is said, that they whitened the robes, is the same as that they purified them." He proves this first, because robes are not whitened by blood, but reddened, and therefore garments are purified. The Greek word therefore λευκαίνειν, that is, to whiten, is taken for καθαρίζειν, as St. John says in chapter I, verse 7, that is, to cleanse, and for λαμπρύνειν, that is, to make bright, pellucid, and pure and shining with all stains wiped away, λευχείτονα, to make white or whitened. The robes therefore λευκαί, that is, white, are called so because ὑπόλευκαι, διάλευκαι, or μεσόλευκαι, that is, somewhat white, namely purple-white, or red-white, they were. Second, because the proper garment of Martyrs is red, or purple, which the Church also uses in their feasts, and celebrates Masses. These therefore are called white, that is, shining and bright, just as in the transfiguration of Christ Luke says in chapter IX, verse 29, that his garment was white, and ἐξαστράπτων, that is, flashing forth. And Christ's garment white, with which he was clothed when sent by Herod to Pilate, was splendid: for this is what the Greek λαμπρά signifies, Luke XXIII, 11; whence by the Syrian it is called scarlet. For St. Augustine, sermon 11 On the Saints, and St. Gregory, homily 17 on Ezekiel, understand this passage concerning martyrs. Third, because John alludes to the hieronics: but the garments of these triumphant ones were often purple. Whence concerning purple Pliny says, book IX, chapter XXXVI: "In the triumph it was mixed with gold." Fourth, because λευκόν to the Greeks is often the same as bright, clear, splendid. Whence water, spring, summer, river, discourse, verse are called λευκά, that is, white, that is, serene, bright, lucid. Fifth, because purple is sometimes the same as white and bright. For thus the swan is called purple, that is, white and splendid. On the other hand, Alcazar thinks the white robes were plainly white, not purple, and this seems truer. For first, to the victor in chapter III, verse 5, Christ promised white garments, not purple. Second, because there is an allusion to the priestly robes: but these were of fine linen and white. Third, because there is an allusion to Isaiah I, 18: "If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool." Fourth, because Christ's garment in the transfiguration became white as snow, from the wondrous light and glory of Christ: and such will be also that of these servants of Christ, as is evident in chapter XIX, verse 14: where concerning the Saints already glorious, following Christ their leader sitting on a white horse to enter into battle with the Antichrist, it is said: "And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean." Fifth, because the garments of the triumphant, equally as of magistrates, were often white, as Faber himself admits. Sixth, because although purple is sometimes put for white, white is never put for purple. To the first, I reply that souls are said to be whitened by the blood of Christ metaphorically, that is, to be cleansed. For the blood of Christ does not properly and physically touch the soul, so as to tinge it with its color, stain it and make it purple. This is what John says in his first epistle, chapter 1, verse 7: "The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Therefore, as Alcazar notes, the blood of Christ is here considered as a most efficacious soap, which completely eats away and wipes off all stains and filth, and thus makes linens white, even though it itself is not white. To the second, I respond that these souls were not only of Martyrs, but of any faithful Saints and elect who after baptism or penance resisted strongly and constantly all temptations and persecutions, especially those of Antichrist, and therefore did not soil the white garment received in baptism or renewed in penance, but preserved it white, as Ticonius, Bede and others teach. I confess, however, that many of them will be Martyrs; yet their stoles, because they clothe souls only, not bodies, are white: because beatific glory, which the stole signifies, since it is spiritual light and brightness, is compared rather to whiteness than to redness: for light is white, not red. Whence in the hymn Te Deum laudamus, the Church sings: "Thee the white-robed army of Martyrs praises." That therefore a red color is given to Martyrs is on account of their bodies, so as to represent that the blood shed by them merits the purple and the heavenly kingdom. Wherefore it is likely that even in heaven the gift of brightness, which will be in the bodies of Martyrs, will be so white that it is at the same time red, or vermilion from white and purple mixed, as I said with D. Soto on Daniel XII, 3. Now therefore the souls of all Saints, even of Martyrs, have a white stole, that is, beatific glory; but after the resurrection the bodies of Martyrs will have brightness white indeed, but such that there is in it some appearance and reflection of purple: as we see in certain white and most precious gems that a red glow is present, and a purple as it were soul. For excessive brightness, especially of light, shines so brightly that it appears to redden and turn purple, as is evident in lightning. And this is what Luke says of Christ in the Transfiguration. To the third, fourth and fifth the answer is clear from what has been said. Furthermore, Martyrs are clothed in white, first, because white designates them as having contended with sincere and white faith unto death. For the white color denotes the antiquity and hoariness of faith. Whence by Virgil it is called "sincere faith;" thus Giraldus, Syntag. I. Secondly, because a white garment is a symbol of victory and triumph. Hence Apocalypse III, 5: "He that shall overcome, it says, shall be clothed in white garments." Wherefore Tertullian, in the book On the Crown of the Soldier: "Wholly, he says, armed from the Apostle, and crowned better with the white laurel of martyrdom, awaits the gift of Christ in prison." And St. Cyprian, sermon On the Lapsed, at the beginning: "There is present the white cohort of Christ's soldiers, who broke the turbulent ferocity of persecution by stable engagement." Thirdly, because the white color is an indication of peace, which Martyrs after the struggle obtain eternally in the heavens. Hence formerly a petition for surrender and peace was not held firm and ratified except by raising a white garment. Whence Aeneas, in book III of the Aeneid, from the whiteness of horses which appeared in sight of Italy, received an omen of peace. Tamerlane besieging a city, on the first day displayed a white banner, as a sign of peace if they would surrender; on the second day, a black one; on the third day, a bloody one. Fourthly, white denotes glory and immortality, and especially the gift of brightness of Martyrs. Hence Angels after the Resurrection of Christ appeared to Magdalene and the Apostles in white garments. For this reason St. Antony coming to Alexandria presented himself clothed in white to the judge, so that he might obtain from him the laurel of martyrdom. Hear concerning him St. Athanasius in the Epistle to those living the solitary life: "Girded in a glowing white garment, he provoked the advancing judge by his appearance, burning with desire for martyrdom." Thus the holy Gervasius and Protasius, Martyrs, appeared clothed in white to St. Ambrose, when he himself, by the indication of St. Paul, sought and found their bodies, as he himself relates in the circular Epistle which he wrote concerning this discovery to the Bishops of Italy. Symbolically St. Bernard, sermon 1 On Easter Day: "These, he says, are the hosts of whitened Saints, who washed their stoles and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; because he went out with him, and in him the whitening water, and he himself who saw it bears witness. Or certainly, white in the blood of the new Lamb, milk-white blood, white and ruddy, as you have in the Song of Songs, chapter v: My beloved, says the bride, is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands." Excellently St. Jerome, vol. II, epistle 11: "Let him enjoy, he says, the crown of virtue, and on account of daily martyrdoms clothed follow the Lamb." AND PALMS IN THEIR HANDS. — The palm among historians, both sacred and profane, is a symbol of victory. Whence also in the temple of Solomon, as well as in that of Ezechiel, palms were carved, as it were showing to those entering the prize, if they should fight generously for God and conquer, as I have said more fully in Ezech. cap. XLI, at the end of the chapter. For this multitude which John saw is indeed of the victors: for concerning them he says in cap. XV, vers. 2: "They have conquered the beast (that is, the Antichrist) and his image, and the number of his name." Most excellently St. Augustine, serm. 11 De Sanctis: "They shine in white robes, and have palms in their hands, because they have their rewards in their works, while their bodies, which for the Lord were burned in fires, torn apart by beasts, consumed by scourges, dissolved by precipices, worn away by claws, and in every manner of punishment suffered to be scattered, through the resurrection receive glorified," that is, they hope, nay they believe, that on the day of judgment they shall receive them. He alludes to the victors in the Olympic games and other contests, especially the sacred ones, that is, the hieronic: for these were indeed rewarded with white, flourishing and triumphal garments, and a palm, and sometimes also a palm crown. Whence also Tertullian, lib. De Fuga in persecutione, at the beginning, teaches that the likeness is drawn here from athletic matters. "From whom," he says, "is a contest proclaimed, except from him by whom crown and prizes are proposed? You will recognize the edict of the law of this contest, by which prizes it invites to victory (saying in cap. III, vers. 5: He that shall overcome shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life), as pertaining to the same agonothete, to whom belongs the judgment of the contest, who invites to the prize." Again, the hieronic were also crowned after death, and divine honors were almost paid to them, nay they were even called Joves. Thus Pausanias in the Arcadics, fol. 219, relates that formerly in contests, especially the sacred ones, a φοινικοῦν στέφανον, that is, a palm crown, was given to the victor; and he adds that from Theseus, when returning from Crete and instituting a contest for Apollo at Delos, palm crowns were given to the victors, and from this the beginning of this custom was made, whose palms at Delos Homer also mentions. And Plutarch in Theseus: "They say," he says, "that he held games in Delos, and victors were then first rewarded by him with branches of palm." Furthermore, this palm in a more eminent place in the middle of the stadium, they set forth on a table for viewing, as Peter Faber teaches from St. Chrysostom, Virgil and others, lib. II Agonist., xxv. Plutarch gives the reason in Sympos., Quaest. IV, at the end: "In contests," he says, "it pleased them that the palm be a sign of victory, because it is of such a nature that it does not yield to those pressing and oppressing it," but rises up more strongly. Again, the palm signifies that victory is acquired by hands and by laboring. For from the likeness of the palm, that is, the hollow hand, which ending in fingers opens beautifully, the palm tree is named, because it has its foliage at the top extended around like it, and branches extended in the manner of fingers. Whence also we call its fruit dates, that is, fingers, because they are similar to fingers. Hence also the palm was given to the victor in his hand, as it were palm to palm: for by hand and palm contending, the palm of triumph is acquired. Wherefore at Rome in the Capitol, a palm sprung up twice during the war of Perseus portended victory. Thus also the palm at Tralles on the base of Caesar the Dictator, around the time of his civil wars, foreshowed his triumphs, as Pliny testifies, lib. XVII, cap. xxv. Here is that true saying: "Gold is born for you at home." Thus Claudian in Laud. Stiliconis: "When rising up with all her wings on high, / Victory herself to the leader sacred halls would open, / And the palm rejoicing in green, and clothed with trophies." Moreover, the palm sprung up on the head of Perseus was prostrated by storms, and in the same place a fig tree sprung up, in the lustrum of M. Messala and G. Cassius, from which time Piso, a grave authority, reports that chastity was subverted, as Pliny says, lib. XVII, cap. xxv. Thus softness takes away the strength of chastity, delights rob virtue of its vigor. By these Rome was conquered, which could not be conquered by any arms, when, as Juvenal says: "Luxury more cruel than arms lay upon her." The palm is therefore given here to the Saints in the future at the end of the world, because they will have a fierce struggle with the flesh, the world, and the demon, and especially with the Antichrist and other impious men, and many will fall as Martyrs; indeed all will be Martyrs, at least in intention and preparation, and insofar as it depends on the Antichrist. For he himself will condemn all the faithful who resist him by a common edict to death, as once Decius, Diocletian, and other tyrants did. For, as St. Cyprian teaches, all those can be called Martyrs who, by the decrees of infidel and tyrannical princes, are condemned to death for the faith of Christ. Whence also Confessors of old, who dwelt in prison, awaiting the sentence of death, are called Martyrs. Hence St. Cyprian wrote a book to these Martyrs, by which he encourages them to undergo martyrdom in fact. Let therefore the Religious rejoice and glory in the Lord in this title of martyrdom, who in this age in Japan, China, England, etc., are proscribed by the edicts of infidel or heretical princes, and condemned to death. Cardinal Hugo notes that the leaves of the palm are like a sword or dagger, narrow and sharp, so that they truly wound and pierce the one who touches them, and by this it is signified first, that the sword by which Martyrs are struck is turned into a palm, that is, a triumph. Second, that the palm of glory is obtained only by the sword, that is, by combat. Thus also the pomegranate is a symbol of martyrdom, of which it is said in the Canticle IV: "As a piece of a pomegranate, so are thy cheeks;" because, as Bede explains, among all fruits only the pomegranate is crowned, and ruddy with grains; and therefore it signifies the most beautiful and precious crown of Martyrs reddened and purpled by their own blood. "The palm," says St. Ambrose, in sermon 24, "is pleasant to Martyrs for food, shady for rest, honorable for triumph, always green, always clothed with leaves, always prepared for victory, and therefore the palm does not wither, because the victory of Martyrs does not wither." Tertullian speaks beautifully, Apol. L: "The battle," he says, "is ours, in which we are summoned to the tribunals, so that there under the risk of our heads we may contend for the truth. This victory has both the glory of pleasing God, and the reward of living eternally: therefore we conquer when we are killed, we escape when we are bound. Though now you may call us Sarmenticians and Semaxians, because we are burned bound to half an axle with a wrapping of twigs. This is the garment of our victory, this is the palm-embroidered robe, with such a chariot we triumph." He calls it a palm-embroidered garment and tunic, because palms were woven into it, which is also noted in Livy, lib. X, in triumphs, from which the toga palmata was named, which Servius also noted in lib. XI of the Aeneid. Paschasius thinks, lib. VI De Coronis, cap. xxi, that Tertullian alludes to palms growing on the rock of Vulcan, which burns perpetually. For although there the roots of the palm are confined by fiery rocks, yet they both flourish, and produce abundant fruit; which is like a miracle: thus Martyrs among twigs and fires grow green, and produce the fruit of heavenly charity and fortitude. Moreover the palm loves salty soil, it is alien from filth, says Ruellius, lib. I De Natura stirpium, cap. cxviii. Thus virtue seasoned with the salt of patience does not allow itself to be defiled by the filth of vices, but shines with untainted honors. Theophrastus teaches the same of the palm, lib. II Histor. plant., cap. vi: "It desires," he says, "sandy and salty soil; therefore where such is not, farmers sprinkle salt." Plutarch, lib. De Orac. silentio, writes that in the temple consecrated by Cipselos, there was a bronze palm, at whose roots were carved many frogs and water-snakes: the palm besieged by frogs signifies that envy is the companion of virtue. Again the palm, when cut down, grows again: and we have learned something wonderful about it with the phoenix bird, which is thought to have taken its name from the argument of this palm (for φοῖνιξ means both palm and phoenix), that it dies again and is born again from itself, says Pliny, lib. XIII, cap. IV. Thus Martyrs dying are born again to immortal life. "With thee standing I shall flourish." Moreover Quintus Calaber, describing the shield of Achilles, says that on it was depicted the mountain of divine virtue, on which she herself stood with feet resting on the top of a palm, lofty, reaching to heaven. For virtue, as Claudian says in Consul. Theodosii: "Brave in her own riches, and unmoved by all / Misfortunes, from her high citadel despises mortal things." Horace, lib. I Carm., professes that men are raised to the gods by heroic and palm-bearing victories of virtues, and almost exchange humanity with divinity: "And the noble palm / Raises the lords of the earth to the gods." Thus heroes and Martyrs share in the power and glory of God, and are as it were certain earthly gods. Finally, Plutarch in the Symposium, and from him Charles Paschalius, book VI On Crowns, chapters xx and xxi, notes that the palm is, first, of very long life; second, it is reborn from no other source than from itself; third, it surpasses the laurel, olive, and myrtle in perpetual greenness, the foliage of which trees falls and other leaves succeed it, whereas the palm loses nothing of its own. The palm is therefore judged to excel in beauty, in constant verdure, in unconquered strength, and is therefore a symbol of heroic virtue and victory. Hence by Virgil, in the fifth book of the Aeneid, the palm is called steep, just as the path to virtue is not traveled except through steep places. For this reason Tertullian, Against the Gnostics, says: "The fighter himself does not complain, he does not wish to grieve: the crown presses upon wounds, the palm obscures blood; there is more of victories than of injuries." And again: "An innumerable multitude clothed in white, and marked with palms of victory are revealed (in this place from the Apocalypse), namely triumphal over the Antichrist." Moreover, the prize of the Olympic victors was the palm, and they carried it in their hands; some were also crowned with it on the head. Hence Virgil, in the third book of the Georgics: "Or whoever marveled at the prizes of the Olympian palm." And Cassiodorus, in the Miscellaneous Readings, book VIII, chapter xxii, says: "Those contending in the stadium, a more numerous crown glorifies, the frequent palm ennobles Olympic chariots." Hence in the Acts of the Martyrs we read throughout that this or that Martyr obtained the palm of martyrdom by sword, fire, cross, etc. To the Martyrs therefore, as it were to legitimate athletes and true Olympic victors, the palm is here assigned by St. John, indeed by Christ himself. Thus St. Paphnutius the Anchorite, fastened to a palm, obtained the palm of martyrdom, whose birthday the Church celebrates on the 26th of September, concerning which a Poet elegantly says: "The palm is of victors: to the palm you were fastened; therefore depart joyfully, because you depart as nothing but a victor." Thus the faithful placed St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a Martyr, struck on the head, in the Episcopal throne (in which while living he had been unwilling to sit out of devotion to humility) with palms as a sign of victory, and sang hymns to God. Indeed, a voice was heard from heaven: "Peter the beginning of the Apostles, Peter the end of the Martyrs Bishops of Alexandria." Thus his Life has it.
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10. AND THEY CRIED OUT WITH A GREAT VOICE (with a great affection of gratitude, exultation and jubilation): SALVATION TO OUR GOD, WHO SITTETH UPON THE THRONE, AND TO THE LAMB. — Supply, let it be attributed; or as if they say: We beseech and congratulate with all our heart God upon his salvation, glory and happiness, from whom all our salvation and glory and that of others has flowed forth. For he himself not only saved us from the plagues of the angels, to be inflicted upon the world at the end of time, but also from sin and eternal damnation, and bestowed upon us life, salvation and eternal beatitude. Whence Vatablus and Erasmus translate the Greek σωτηρία, that is, salvation, as salvation, as if to say: That we are saved, we owe this to God and Christ. "With a great voice," says St. Augustine, sermon 11 On the Saints, "they sing salvation to God, who recall with great thanksgiving that they have overcome the contests of tribulations assailing them, not by their own strength, but by his aid."
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11. AND ALL THE ANGELS, — applauding the salvation of their clients, namely of men sealed and elect, and giving thanks to God for it, and praising him together. See what is said at chapter V, verses 11 and 12.
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12. SAYING: AMEN. — "Amen" can be understood in two ways: First, as a name, signifying truth, fidelity, stability, as though this were the first eulogy and epithet which the angels attribute to God, that is to say, that truth be attributed to God, that the truth of God be celebrated by all, by which He has faithfully dealt, and having promised, has led His servants marked by Him through so many trials and tempests into the harbor of salvation. See the remarks on chapter III, verse 12. Thus Ribera. Second and more simply, "Amen" can be understood as an adverb, as though the multitude of the Blessed applaud the singer: "Salvation to our God and to the Lamb:" for the angels respond to them as it were with alternating voice and choir, "Amen," as if to say: "Let it be, let it be." Whence also the Roman Bible and others place a period after "Amen"; by which it is signified that "Amen" is the conclusion of the preceding doxology, and does not pertain to their new doxology which follows: "Blessing and glory." For when all the Blessed have uttered their own, the Angels confirm it saying: "Amen;" and moreover from a great affection of gratitude they add their own new one, to which they again append "Amen." Where Alcazar notes that this repetition of Amen signifies a vehement asseveration, arising from a greater penetration and greater admiration of divine goodness, which has raised miserable men and those lost in sin, through the blood and death of Christ, to such great salvation and glory. Blessing and Glory. BLESSING AND GLORY. — In Greek δόξα, that is, glory; understand, let it be attributed to God, as if they say: Let all Angels, men and creatures bless and glorify God, who has so faithfully, wisely and beneficently saved and made blessed these His marked ones. Hence the Syriac and Arabic for glory translate it. Blessing properly is the imprecation of good, as when someone prays well to another by vow or word: God's is efficacious, man's inefficacious. And Thanksgiving. AND THANKSGIVING. — In Greek εὐχαριστία. This eulogy is here placed for divinity, which is attributed to the Lamb in chapter V, verse 12; for the other six eulogies which are given there to the Lamb are given here to God. The Angels here indicate that the blessed men render immense thanksgiving to God, and they admonish the living and militant that they do the same. For these blessed, or rather those to be blessed at the end of the world, will be in the most grievous persecutions, temptations and dangers of damnation: for the Antichrist will tempt them in all ways, the world will tempt them, the flesh, and all demons. When therefore they have escaped to the harbor of salvation and have obtained the palm, while they see themselves having escaped so many shipwrecks of salvation, so many perils of sin, in which thousands upon thousands, indeed their companions, messmates, parents, children, relatives, friends, have perished and been damned, their whole mind and spirit will be poured out in thanksgiving, and their heart will not contain their joy, indeed it would burst from joy, unless God contained it, especially while they see themselves placed in such great felicity, glory and heavenly kingdom, and confirmed and secure in it, so that they can never fall from it, but are altogether certain that it will be perpetual for them, and will endure throughout all eternity. Whence with all their heart they will sing: "Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified: the horse and his rider He hath cast into the sea." And the rest which Moses with the Hebrews, having crossed the Red Sea and Pharaoh being drowned, sang, Exodus xv; and especially that: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory." Wherefore the best means of obtaining from God the gift of perseverance, and of attaining to salvation and beatitude, is continual thanksgiving. For this is the beginning of heavenly life, this is the stimulus to pursue this journey to heaven continually; this is the silent invocation of God, which draws forth and provokes new and continuous grace from Him. For, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 26 to the People: "The best guardian of benefits is the very memory of benefits and perpetual confession of thanksgiving." And our Thomas Theodidactus, book II of the Imitation of Christ, chapter x: "Be grateful for the least things, and thou shalt be worthy to receive greater things. Whoever desires to retain the grace of God, let him be grateful for grace given, patient for grace taken away; let him pray that it return, let him be cautious and humble lest he lose it." And above: "Therefore the gifts of grace cannot flow in us, because we are ungrateful to the Author, nor do we return the whole to the fountain of origin. For grace is always owed to one who renders thanks worthily; and it is taken away from the proud, which is wont to be given to the humble." A Moral Passage On Thanksgiving. This is therefore a moral passage concerning the giving of thanks. For how necessary, useful, holy, and pleasing to God it is, is evident from the fact that in both Testaments it has often been commanded and sanctioned by God under grave fault and penalty, not indeed for God's own sake (for what does God gain from the gratitude of little men?), but for our own benefit. Truly St. Augustine in Psalm 134, at the beginning: "If," he says, "the servants of the Lord have not praised Him, they will be ungrateful and irreligious. What do they accomplish by not praising the Lord, except that they feel the Lord to be severe?" And so from the very beginning of the creation of the world, God commanded this benefit to be commemorated weekly and thanks to be given, and therefore from that time He instituted and sanctified the Sabbath, Genesis II, 3. Thus the benefit of the conservation and governance of created things, He commanded to be commemorated and celebrated with grateful memory on the first day of each month, and therefore He instituted the feast of the New Moon, Numbers xxviii, 11, as I have taught there. Thus the benefit of liberation from Pharaoh and Egypt, He commanded to be remembered with grateful remembrance yearly by celebrating the Passover, Exodus xii, 27. The memory of the giving of the law He commanded to be renewed at Pentecost; the protection and guidance through the desert for 40 years, at the feast of Tabernacles, and thus concerning the rest. Moreover, in Leviticus chapter vii, verse 12, He sanctioned a special sacrifice for the giving of thanks, with its libations and ceremonies. But in Deuteronomy chapter xxvi, verse 2: "Thou shalt take," He says, "of all thy fruits, etc., and thou shalt go to the priest, and shalt say: I profess this day before the Lord thy God that I am come into the land, for which He swore to our fathers, that He would give it to us." Thus He exacted the tithes and firstfruits of the crops in thanksgiving, so that they themselves would be as it were homage to the holy land, given to the Hebrews as it were in fee. Far more clearly, more strictly, and more frequently is this giving of thanks prescribed in the New Testament. Christ sanctioned it by word and example. Matthew chapter xiv, 19, Luke ix, 13, about to feed five thousand men in the desert with five loaves and two fishes, lifting His eyes to heaven, He gave thanks to God, and blessed the loaves, and by this prayer and giving of thanks as it were drew forth the power of multiplying and nourishing, so that few loaves satisfied so many thousands, "teaching us," says St. Chrysostom, homily 50 to the People, "not to approach the table until we give thanks to Him who has provided us with food." Again, Luke chapter xvii, verse 17, rebuking the ingratitude of the lepers cleansed by Him: "Were not," He says, "ten made clean? and where are the nine? There is not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." St. Paul, Ephesians v, 3: "All," he says, "uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints, etc., but rather giving of thanks." And verse 20: "Singing in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father." Philippians iv, 6: "Be nothing solicitous; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God." Colossians III, 15: "Let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, into which also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful." And chapter iv, verse 2: "Be instant in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving." I Thessalonians v, 16: "Pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, towards you all." II Thessalonians chapter i, verse 3: "We ought to give thanks always to God for you." And indeed, who of Christians, considering both the common and the private benefits which he draws from God and feels every day, nay every hour, and these so many and so great, would not continually say with the Psalmist: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who crownest me with mercy and compassion." Certainly God crowns, girds and surrounds us on all sides with His gifts and mercies, and this daily. Giving of Thanks Is the Victim of the New Testament. Thanksgiving therefore is proper to the Saints of the New Testament, on account of the immense graces and gifts which they themselves have received in it through Christ, and receive daily. This was foretold by Isaiah, LI, 3: "The Lord," he says, "shall comfort Sion, and shall make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise." Hence first, it is itself called a sacrifice of praise: for this praise is of the New Testament, whereas the sacrifices of the Old were of oxen and victims. Psalm XLIX, verse 13: "Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks, or shall I drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High." And verse 23: "The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God." Which words St. Augustine cites, lib. I Against the Adversaries of the Law, cap. XVIII, and adds: "But what is more sacred than a sacrifice of praise, than in thanksgiving?" And whence are greater thanks to be given to God, than for His grace through Jesus Christ our Lord? Which all the faithful know in the Church's sacrifice, of which all the former kinds of sacrifices were shadows. Secondly, because Christ, the unique and most excellent sacrifice and Sacrament of the new law, giving thanks to the Father for all benefits, especially our redemption, instituted it for thanksgiving, whence it was called the Eucharist, that is, thanksgiving, as St. Chrysostom teaches, hom. 26 in Matthew. Thirdly, St. Paul, I Timothy cap. II, verse 1, gives to thanksgiving the last, that is the most worthy, place among prayers: "I desire," he says, "that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, be made for all men," etc., as Cassian teaches and explains, Collat. lib. IX, cap. XIV, and St. Chrysostom, homil. 1 to the People: "Great," he says, "is the treasure of thanksgiving, great riches, an inexhaustible good, a strong armour; as blasphemy brings great loss to those who are accustomed to swear, and causes more to perish. You have lost money: if you give thanks, you have gained your soul, and have obtained greater riches, because you have drawn more of God's benevolence. But if you have blasphemed, you have lost your salvation, and have killed your soul." Fourthly, because this alone is what we can and ought to render to God, and what is most honourable and pleasing to Him. Whence St. Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, XI: "The worship," he says, "of God is chiefly constituted in this, that the soul be not ungrateful to Him; hence in that truest and singular sacrifice, we are admonished to give thanks to the Lord our God. For God has no need of our goods." Learn here that in the time of St. Augustine in the Mass before the Canon, the priest stirred up those present to thanksgiving, saying: "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God;" and the minister on behalf of those present answered: "It is meet and just." St. Chrysostom, homil. 8 in the epistle to the Colossians: "If in adversities," he says, "you give thanks, first, you gladden God; secondly, you put the devil to shame; thirdly, you make what was done ill to be nothing: for you at once give thanks, and God removes the sorrow, and the devil departs." Fifthly, because God's benefits towards us surpass all thanksgiving and praise; whence St. Chrysostom, hom. 62 in Matthew: "Do you think," he says, "if we die daily for Him who loves us so wonderfully, that we can render worthy thanks, or indeed return even the least thing? Not at all." And St. Augustine, lib. VII On the City of God, cap. XXXI: "For the fact that we are, that we live, that we behold heaven and earth, that we have mind and reason, that He did not abandon us when overwhelmed by sins, and sent us His word, etc., what hearts, how many tongues would be sufficient for giving thanks?" Sixthly, St. Chrysostom in Psalm XLIX: "Nothing," he says, "makes one grow in virtue so much as to be constantly with God and converse with Him, and perpetually give Him thanks and sing psalms." St. Bernard gives the reason, serm. 13 in the Song of Songs: "To the place," he says, "from which they go forth, let the rivers of thanksgiving return, that they may flow again. How? you ask. As the Apostle says: Giving thanks in all things. Whatever wisdom, whatever virtue you trust yourself to have, ascribe to God's virtue, to God's wisdom, to Christ." Let us therefore say continually and everywhere: "Thanks be to God. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." All the Saints did thus. Do you want examples? King David, Psalm 115, verse 12: "What," he says, "shall I render to the Lord for all the things he hath rendered to me?" Moreover, David wrote many Eucharistic psalms: such indeed are psalm 8, 102, 103, 106, 110, 113, 116, 117, 134 and 135, in which with each verse a new benefit of God being set forth, there is subjoined this intercalary and Eucharistic hemistich: "For his mercy endureth for ever." Such also are 137, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150. Christ, John 11, 41, about to raise Lazarus: "Father," he says, "I give thee thanks, because thou hast heard me." Again, about to institute the holy Eucharist, giving thanks to the Father, he asked of him and obtained from him the power of transubstantiating bread into his body, and wine into his blood. Paul, Romans 1, 8: "First indeed," he says, "I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for you all." And chapter 6, verse 17: "Thanks be to God that you were the servants of sin; but you have obeyed from the heart unto that form of doctrine into which you have been delivered." I Corinthians chapter 1, verse 4: "I give thanks to my God always for you." II Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14: "But thanks be to God, who always maketh us to triumph (that is, causeth us to triumph) in Christ Jesus." Chapter 9, verse 15: "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift," namely your almsgiving. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 16: "I cease not to give thanks for you." Philippians 1, 3: "I give thanks to my God in all my remembrance of you." II Timothy 1, 3: "I give thanks to God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience." Finally, Paul is as frequent in giving thanks as in naming and repeating the name of Jesus. For what else is it to name Jesus than to confess the Saviour and salvation received from him? Let penitents therefore, and those who were once sinners, continually say with Paul, I Timothy chapter 1, verse 12: "I give thanks to him who hath strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord; because he hath judged me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who before was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and contumelious. A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation: that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the first." Again with Isaias, chapter 1, verse 9: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodoma, and we should have been like Gomorrha." And with the Psalmist and St. Mary Magdalen: "The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. The mercies of the Lord, because we are not consumed;" and with St. Augustine converted by St. Ambrose let them sing together the hymn: "Thee, O God, we praise, thee, O Lord, we confess." Let them read and imitate the Confessions of that same St. Augustine, which are nothing other than continuous thanksgivings. Finally, because they can render nothing to God for so great a grace, let them render it to their neighbours, who are the image of God, and let them convert whomsoever they can, so that they may make them friends and children of God out of his enemies, who may continually give thanks to God for themselves and theirs, and celebrate him in word and in life. But the Saints and the innocent let them sing to Christ conceived and born in them the Eucharistic hymn of innocence, and let them say with the Virgin conceiving Christ by the gift of God: "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour; because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is his name." And with St. Anne conceiving Samuel: "My heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God. There is none holy as the Lord is: there is none besides thee, and there is none strong like our God. The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to hell and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth. He raiseth up the needy from the dust, and lifteth up the poor out of the dunghill: that he may sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory." St. Augustine, epistle 5 to Marcellinus: "What," he says, "can we better carry in our mind, and utter with our mouth, and set forth with our pen than thanks to God? This can be said nothing more briefly, nor heard more joyfully, nor understood more graciously, nor done more fruitfully." The same in Psalm 132 teaches that the common salutation of the Monks and Religious of his age was (as even now it is in use among many) that those meeting one another should say: "Thanks be to God," and therefore they were mocked by the Circumcellions, the Donatists, and called by mockery "Thanks be to God." Which St. Augustine refuting: "See," he says, "whether a brother ought not to give thanks to God, when he sees his brother? Is there not indeed a place for congratulation, when those who dwell in Christ see one another? And yet you mock our 'Thanks be to God,' your praises weep men." Finally, the Church through priests in the name of all the faithful daily gives thanks to God, and commands that individuals do the same, when in the Preface of the Mass it commands all to hear devoutly and with harmonious mind, or to recite and sing: "It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God, through Christ our Lord: by whom the majesty of thy greatness is praised by the Angels, adored by the Dominations, feared by the Powers, and the Heavens and the Virtues of the heavens, and the blessed Seraphim celebrate together in exultation. With whom we beseech thee that thou wouldst command our voices also to be admitted, saying with suppliant confession: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; the heavens and the earth are full of thy glory: Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest." Moreover, we ought to give thanks to God not only in prosperity, but equally in adversity, and to say with the Psalmist, Psalm xxxiii: "I will bless the Lord at all times." Thus St. Job, stripped of all his goods and struck with a grievous sore by the demon: "The Lord," he said, "hath given, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord;" by which voice he conquered and confounded the devil, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 2 on the Epistle to the Romans. Thus the Angels and the Blessed here give thanks to God for tribulation and struggle, which was to them the matter and cause of such great victory and glory. St. Augustine on that passage of Psalm CXLIV, Every day will I bless thee, says: "Whether therefore in his gifts, or in his scourges, praise him who either caresses thee by giving, lest thou fail; or corrects thee when exulting, lest thou perish. The praise of him who scourges is the medicine of the wound." St. Basil, homily on Julitta: "Art thou smitten by no merit of thine?" he says, "let the hope of future things bring thee joy. Art thou subjected to just punishment? give thanks that thou payest the penalty here rather than in the future." As did the Emperor Maurice, in whose sight when his sons and wife were slaughtered by the Emperor Phoca, he exclaimed to each one: "Just art thou, O Lord, and thy judgment is right." St. Jerome in chapter v to the Ephesians: "It is," he says, "the proper virtue of Christians, even in those things which are thought adverse, to give thanks to the Creator, and to say: Blessed be God; I know that I bear less than I deserve. This is the mind of a Christian. This is he who, taking up his cross, follows the Saviour; whom neither bereavement nor losses weaken." St. Gregory, pressed and almost oppressed by the Lombards and other calamities, and forced to take up the pen from the tablet, concludes his Commentary on Ezekiel with thanksgiving thus: "My soul is weary of my life, because my harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep. What therefore remains, but that amid the scourges which we suffer from our iniquities, we should give thanks with tears? For he himself who created us has also become a father to us through the spirit of adoption, which he gave. And sometimes he nourishes his sons with bread, sometimes he corrects them with the scourge, because through sorrows and gifts he instructs them unto perpetual inheritance. Let therefore glory be to our almighty Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. Amen." St. Bernard, sermon 21 in the Canticles: "Thou shalt be," he says, "amid the adversities and prosperities of changeable times; holding a certain image of eternity, blessing the Lord at all times." Truly St. Chrysostom, homily 8 on the Epistle to the Colossians: "Nothing," he says, "is more holy than this tongue, which gives thanks to God in adversities. Certainly it is not inferior to the tongue of Martyrs: both alike are crowned." The Martyrs indeed in torments, though most bitter, yet on account of the laurel of martyrdom exulted, and gave thanks to God with their whole heart. Thus Theodore the Martyr, while his whole body was being torn, sang: "I will bless the Lord at all times." Thus St. Lawrence: "I give thanks to thee," he said, "O Lord Jesus, because I have been deemed worthy to enter thy gates." Thus the three youths in the Babylonian furnace sang: "All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above all for ever," Daniel III. Thus they gave thanks to God in the fires with rejoicing, St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, St. Lucy and many others. Finally, St. Chrysostom, in his 10th homily on the Epistle to the Colossians, recounts the beautiful prayer and formula of thanksgiving of a certain holy man: "I know," he says, "a holy man who prayed thus: We give thanks to thee for all thy benefits, bestowed upon us unworthy from the first day until this present time, whether known to us or unknown; both for hidden things and for manifest things, which have been done to us either by deed or by word; and which have been given both willingly and unwillingly; for all things which have been exhibited to us undeserving, for afflictions, for rest, for hell, for punishment, for the kingdom of heaven." He adds the reason: "For God afflicts us with many benefits even unwilling, and with many and even more things unknown to us." Honor. — In the Greek, each of these seven praises is preceded by the article ἡ for emphasis, as if to say: That glory, that wisdom, that honor, etc., namely the highest, immense and divine, is to be attributed to God, as is due. Virtue. — In Greek ἡ δύναμις, that is, that power, namely the divine omnipotence and uncreated, by which he created all things from nothing, and is able to create a thousand, indeed infinitely many other worlds, each more perfect than the others, and to preserve, nourish and perfect created things. And Strength. — In Greek ἡ ἰσχύς, that is, that immense robustness, to which nothing can resist, by which he reaches from end to end mightily, and yet disposes all things gently: strength therefore signifies the robust external execution; virtue, however, the internal power of God. To Our God, — namely both of blessed men and of angels: for blessed men are fellow-citizens of the angels and as it were brothers. Certainly they are sons and heirs of God. For Ever and Ever, — through all ages succeeding one another continuously, through all eternity. With immense affection and jubilation the angels beseech God for the eternity of these seven praises, in the manner of congratulation. For they can neither truly add to him by this prayer of theirs, nor diminish him. Truly therefore St. Basil said: "The praise of God is the work of Angels." Wherefore St. Ephrem in his book On Beatitudes assigns these three as it were as primary. The first: "Blessed is he who has been made like the Seraphim and Cherubim, and in divine and spiritual service is never idle, but constantly glorifies the Lord." The second: "Blessed is he who in his cell in the Lord, like a heavenly Angel, keeps chaste thoughts, and with his own mouth praises him who has power over all spirits." The third: "Blessed is he who is always full of spiritual joy, and does not grow sluggish in bearing the sweet yoke of the Lord: for he shall be crowned in glory." And St. Bernard, sermon 11 on the Canticles: "Nothing," he says, "so properly represents for someone on earth the state of heavenly habitation, as the cheerfulness of those praising God, Scripture saying: Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee world without end." And St. Augustine on Psalm 144: "As," he says, "there is no end to his (God's) greatness, so there shall be no end to thy praise." The same on Psalm 68: "The praise of God," he says, "cannot be except in his saints. For those who live badly do not praise him, and if they proclaim with the tongue, they blaspheme with their life." Whence the same on Psalm 32, verse 1, Rejoice in the Lord, ye just: "They themselves," he says, "praise the Lord, who submit themselves to the Lord." And on Psalm 140: "Pass," he says, "to thy reproach, and thou shalt praise the Lord." And on Psalm 83: "If thou fail," he says, "from love, thou shalt fail from praise." Finally in epistle 120 to Honoratus, he teaches that the praise of God is the sacrifice of the New Testament: for explaining that passage of Psalm 21, Ye that fear the Lord, praise him, he says: "But who truly praises, except he who sincerely loves? It is therefore the same as if he said: Ye that fear the Lord, love him. For men of the Old Testament who feared God ran with sacrifices to the temple; but now in the grace of the New Testament, ye that fear the Lord, praise him." And again Psalm 49: "Offer to God the sacrifice of praise." Do you wish to praise God constantly? Do you wish to emulate the voice and life of the angels? Take, meditate upon, and frequently use, and with them rejoice in these five hymns of the Saints. Let the first be the Seraphic one of Isaiah 6, 3, and the Cherubic one of Apocalypse 4, 8: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts: all the earth is full of his glory. Let every spirit praise the Lord." Let the second be the Angelic one of Luke 2, 14: "Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace to men of good will." "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen," Apocalypse, chapter 7, verse 12. Third, Paul, Romans XI, 33: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For of him, and by him, and in him are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen." Fourth, from Ecclesiasticus in the office of the Holy Trinity: "Blessed be the holy Trinity, and undivided unity; we will confess unto him, because he hath shown his mercy towards us. For thou hast created us in thy arm, thou hast redeemed us in the blood of thy Christ, thou hast sanctified us in thy Spirit out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation; and thou hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth. I will therefore bless the Lord at all times," both in desolation and in consolation; both in adversity and in prosperity. Fifth, from David, Psalm CII, 1: "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion. Who satisfieth thy desire with good things. For what hast thou in heaven? and besides thee what dost thou desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever." O Sacred Trinity, Threefold Unity, One Godhead! O Threefold Charity, One Happiness, Blessed Eternity, thine and ours. Amen.
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13. AND ONE OF THE ELDERS ANSWERED. — "Answered," that is, began to speak with me, questioned me in order to instruct me, as a teacher questions a disciple in order to teach and instruct him. For this is the meaning of the Hebrew ענה ana, that is, answered. Hence Christ the Lord, and others frequently, when they begin a discourse, are said in Scripture to answer. Who this elder was is uncertain. Lyra wishes it to have been St. Peter, Alcazar St. Luke, who wrote in the Acts of the Apostles, those sealed with the grace of Christ, that is, the Gentiles believing in Christ. See the remarks on chapter V.
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14. THESE ARE THEY WHO HAVE COME OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. — In Greek there is a double article: ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης, that is to say, Out of that tribulation, that, I say, great and renowned tribulation, of which Christ speaks in Matthew XXIV, verse 21: "For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved," that is, no human being would be saved. He alludes to the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt: for Egypt in Hebrew is called Misraim, that is, tribulation, distress, from the root צרה tsara, that is, he straitened, he afflicted, he troubled. For thus the Hebrews were afflicted before Moses in Egypt, and thence were freed and led out by Moses. For just as in the sealed ones, verse 4, he alluded to the houses of the Hebrews marked with the blood of the paschal lamb: so here he alludes in the same word "tribulation," and in the word "lamb," as if to say, Just as formerly the Hebrews were in great tribulation under Pharaoh, but marked and as it were washed in the blood of the paschal lamb, and were freed from it by Moses: so also these faithful ones at the end of the world will be in great tribulation and temptation, both of the flesh and of the world, especially of Antichrist; but marked with the cross, and washed in the blood of the Lamb, they will struggle out of it, and will generously overcome it; indeed many will undergo martyrdom, and therefore will be given white robes and palms, and as it were victors will be led before the throne of God. Learn here: just as the cold of winter brings forth and produces the fruits of summer, so present tribulation brings forth and produces eternal crowns. This is what eternal Truth says: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," Matthew V, 10. See here how noble and glorious it is to suffer for Christ, namely, to do mighty deeds is Roman, to suffer mighty things is Christian. Thus the Apostles "went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus," Acts V. Thus Paul: "To me," he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world," Galatians VI, 14. Thus St. Chrysostom in exile for Christ, tormented by hunger, thirst, fever, weariness, the burning of the sun, the assault of the Isaurian enemies, and finally exhausted, exulted with lofty spirit, and encouraged others suffering similar things, and stirred them up to exult in persecutions. Whence writing to the Bishops held in prison, epistle 4 out of seven: "Blessed," he says, "are you for imprisonment, for chains, for the bonds laid upon you! Blessed, I say, and thrice blessed, nay more often! You have won over the whole world to yourselves: everywhere on earth and sea your glorious deeds are sung, your fortitude, your steadfast resolve, and your spirit not at all servile. Nothing that seems grievous to others has abandoned you: not threats, which announced countless deaths; not the tribunal, not the executioner, not the heaping up of torments; not the judge, who breathed fire from his mouth; not adversaries, who gnashed their teeth, and were eager to insult in countless other ways; not such great calumnies, not the most shameless accusations, not death set before your eyes daily; but all these things have rather provided you with abundant matter of consolation. And therefore you are indeed renowned: and all celebrate and proclaim you, not friends only, but even enemies themselves who brought these things about. So great a thing is virtue, that even those who oppose it admire it. So great a thing is malice, that even those who work it condemn it. And thus in this life your affairs stand so. But what things are in heaven, who can worthily explain in words? Your names are inscribed in the book of life; you are numbered with the holy Martyrs." The same in epistle 118: "You dwell in prison, and are bound with chains, and shut up with the squalid and filthy. Can anything more blessed than this be imagined? For what does a golden crown encircling the head have such as a chain around the hand for God's sake? What have great and splendid houses such as a prison full of darkness and filth, and of great stench and calamity, for God's sake? Since these things are so, rejoice and exult, crown your head with crowns, leap for joy, because the troubles into which you have fallen bring you great matter of advantages. This is indeed seed, announcing a harvest more sublime than any word: this is struggle, bringing victory and palms: this is navigation, procuring ample and abundant gain. Therefore, turning these things over in your mind, rejoice and be glad, and let no time pass in which you do not praise God in all things, and inflict deadly wounds upon the devil, and lay up for yourselves a great reward in heaven. For the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us." The same epistle 130 to his Antiochenes: "This," says, "You have us freed from the weakness of the stomach, and we are in good health, and are not cast down or troubled by siege, nor by the incursions of robbers, nor by the solitude of the place, nor by the multitude of six hundred adverse circumstances, nor finally by any other inconvenience of this place: but rather we enjoy great security, leisure and peace, and each day we are concerned for the state of your affairs." There finally he wrote to Olympias his last composition, truly golden, That no one is harmed except by himself: "For that remedy," he says, "suffices for you." This was the swan-like voice of the golden mouth. For shortly after, worn out by fever and the inconveniences of travel, summoned to heaven by St. Basiliscus the Martyr, putting on white garments, as it were a candidate of heaven, a Martyr, and singing: "Glory be to God, the cause of all things," he stretched out those beautiful feet, and shaking off the dust of mortal life, he departed to Christ in the fifty-second year of his age, in the year of Christ 407, as Palladius says in his Dialogue, and from him Baronius. St. Ignatius, the founder of our Society, felt the same way, who so greatly esteemed the persecutions and chains with which he had often been bound for Christ, that he would say, if all things created by God were placed on one side of the scale, and on the other prison, chains, reproaches, scarcely would all those things have any weight compared to these in his estimation. Nor indeed could any created nature produce such joy in the soul as could equal that joy of the Holy Spirit which God pours into the minds of those who have endured much and great things for His love. From which, when asked by a certain Father: "What would be the most expeditious way to perfection," he answered: "If you suffer much and great adversities for the love of Christ. Ask this grace from God. For to whom the Lord grants this, He grants much: for in this one benefit many great benefits of His are contained." Thus Father Ribadeneira, an eyewitness and earwitness, in book V of his Life, chapter X. Symbolically and tropologically Alcazar (although he himself thinks this is the literal sense), this tribulation is the captivity of sin and the unhappiness of an ulcerated conscience, from which those escape who flee to Christ: for they wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb; and thus they pass over to the most joyful lot, namely the happiness of a good conscience, and they are transferred from the servitude of the demon into the number of priestly men, who, adorned with the garments of justice, serve God in His temple. And they washed. (some read ἐπλάτυναν, that is, they enlarged. Thus Vatable and Erasmus, but incorrectly: for it should be read with the Complutensian ἔπλυναν, that is, they washed, so that they might whiten them, as follows) THEIR ROBES,—that is, their garments and their bodies, that is, themselves and their consciences they devoted and sanctified through the blood and merits of Christ. It is a metaphor and catachresis: for he speaks of the spiritual purification of the soul through the metaphor of the washing of a bodily robe, known to us; but through it he means the washing of the soul: for the conscience is as it were the robe and garment of the soul, either soiled or pure and clean. For, as St. Jerome says, or rather Maximus of Turin (Marcianus attributes it to him, and his style smells of it, in the epistle On the Perfect Man, which is found in vol. IX of the works of St. Jerome): "For us the fleeces of sheep and the work of women provide garments: for them (souls) their merits make a garment." Furthermore, these Saints washed the robe of their soul, first, in baptism; second, in penance and other Sacraments; third, frequently in sighing, prayer and compunction; fourth, through works of mercy; fifth, through continuous exercise and fervor of charity, patience and all virtues; sixth, through martyrdom. For by all these things we apply to ourselves the blood and merits of Christ, and by it we wash ourselves and whiten ourselves, as it were, so that white, that is, pure and clean, we become more and more each day. The Selenus river is a remedy of love, by which those who have been washed forget desire, as Pausanias says in the Achaics. More noble and more efficacious than the Selenus is the blood of Christ, which extinguishes all impure loves, and, as St. Chrysostom says, reforms the royal image in us. St. John alludes in all these visions to that illustrious vision of Esdras, book II, chapter XXXIV and following. Where first, he depicts the blessed and sealed, equally as John here, and their rewards thus: "Expect your shepherd, he will give you eternal rest; for he is near, he who will come at the end of the age. Be prepared for the rewards of the kingdom, for perpetual light will shine upon you through the eternity of time; flee the shadow of this age; receive the joy of your glory: rejoice giving thanks to him, who has called you to the heavenly kingdoms;" which words the Church transferred into the ecclesiastical office at Paschal time. Esdras adds concerning the sealed: "Rise, and see the number of the sealed at the banquet of the Lord: those who have transferred themselves from the shadow of this age have received splendid tunics from the Lord. Receive, Zion, your number, and enclose your candidates, who have fulfilled the law of the Lord. The number of your sons whom you desired is full." He then proceeds to the multitude, which John here in verse 9 and thereafter describes, and says: "I, Esdras, saw on Mount Zion a great multitude, which I could not number, and all praised the Lord with songs. And in the midst of them was a young man of lofty stature, more eminent than all of them, and he placed crowns upon the heads of each of them, and he was more exalted. But I was held in wonder. Then I asked the angel, and said: Who are these, Lord? Who answered me: These are they who have put off the mortal tunic and have put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God. Now they are crowned and receive palms. And I said to the angel: Who is that young man who places crowns upon them and delivers palms into their hands? And answering he said to me: He is the Son of God, whom they confessed in the world. But I began to magnify those who stood mightily for the name of the Lord." They Whitened. They appointed, cleansed them. For these robes are of conscience, which are properly capable of neither red nor white color. See the words at verse 9.
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15. THEREFORE THEY ARE BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD. — He alludes to the throne of God in the temple (for he will mention this shortly); for in it God sat in the Holy of Holies upon the mercy seat and the Cherubim. This therefore was the throne of God in the temple: a similar one John saw here in the heavenly temple. It signifies first that these souls are blessed in heaven: for they have God present in their sight, and they enjoy and are blessed by his vision. Second, that they are wonderfully dear and familiar to God, and constantly converse with him, just as the highest and most intimate princes constantly converse with the king. Third, that they are as it were priests: "For they serve him day and night in his temple," in Greek λατρεύουσιν, that is, they offer latria worship, namely continuous incense of adoration, praise and thanksgiving to him, as is evident from the words of verse 10 and chapter V, verse 9. For he alludes to the priests and Levites, who in their vestments, that is, in linen tunics, served the tabernacle, guarding it day and night, and performing and completing sacrifices and other duties. For otherwise in the empyrean heaven there is no night, but one continuous and same day of clear and blessed eternity. Night and day therefore, that is, always or throughout the day. He mentions night, because the priests kept watch throughout the night in turns in the temple, and in turn placed parts of the sacrifice upon the altar continuously, namely of the evening lamb: for this was burned throughout the night, as I said at Leviticus VI, 9. He Will Dwell Over Them, regarding them continuously, ruling, protecting, blessing them, and showing and communicating himself and all his things to them, as it were from his tower of power and providence, by which he as it were dwells over them, and as it were leans upon them. It is a metalepsis; for God does not properly have a house or dwelling: "For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof."
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16. THEY SHALL NOT HUNGER, NEITHER SHALL THEY THIRST ANY MORE, NEITHER SHALL THE SUN FALL UPON THEM, NOR ANY HEAT. — He alludes to Isaiah XLIX, 10, where Isaiah uses the same words. Both Isaiah and John allude to athletes and victorious boxers, and to those already retired from the games, as Peter Faber notes, book II of the Agonist, chapter XII. For soldiers and boxers often suffer thirst and hunger; often they must live in the open air, and in the midst of the sun's heat build ramparts, fortify camps, keep watch, assault cities, attack the enemy, and fight with him; but now victors and retired, freed from all these things, they are granted rest and the prize. Thus it happens also to these blessed souls, as if to say: Blessed ones, once contending in this life and bravely enduring hunger, thirst, sun and heat, that is, a thousand labors, pains, hardships and troubles, now that the time of all contests has passed, as it were leaving the arena and dust, they will henceforth be immune from all these things, and will enjoy eternal rest, joy and triumph, which they merited by bravely enduring their labors and hardships in the stadium. Mystically Ambrose understands by heat temptations. And Alcazar: "The discourse," he says, "is of the hunger and thirst of cupidity, and of the heat of lust and envy."
7:17
17. BECAUSE THE LAMB WHO IS IN THE MIDST OF THE THRONE (in the sense which I gave in chapter V, verse 6), SHALL RULE THEM, — In Greek ποιμανεῖ, that is, shall feed them, as a most diligent and most loving shepherd of his sheep. He alludes to Isaiah chapter XLIX, 10: "Because he that hath mercy on them shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink." Isaiah alludes again to good Shepherds of flocks: in their manner Christ, both on earth, and especially in heaven (of which this passage treats) feeds his sheep, that is, the elect, with most abundant pastures, and waters them with the clearest fountains, and shades them with gentle air and shady foliage of trees, says Alcazar: although he himself refers these things to the Church militant, which God feeds with the Holy Sacraments, sacred Scripture and the contemplation of the mysteries of faith, which satisfy hunger and quench the thirst of those who pant after the goods of this life; and with the gentle breeze of the divine spirit, and the shadow of his protection, and of the best examples, he drives away the heat of luxury, envy and other appetites of the soul, and incites and strengthens it to the exercise of solid virtues. But these are moral interpretations, not literal. For he speaks literally of the Blessed, whom God feeds in heaven. Nevertheless, these things can be fittingly applied tropologically to the faithful in this life serving God in spirit and truth with their whole heart, and especially to Religious. For they begin the heavenly, blessed and angelic life. Whence first, they stand before God as it were continually in the temple: for religion is as it were a certain heaven on earth, says Climacus, step 4; or the earthly paradise of God, and temple, says St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Dedication of Churches. For which reason by the same St. Bernard to the Brethren of Mount God, Religious are called earthly angels, and heavenly men: for they have their body on earth, but their soul and mind in heaven. Secondly, of these it can truly be said, that λατρεύουσιν, that is, they serve God continually in the worship and latria of religion, because they dedicate and consecrate themselves wholly to divine worship: for they do all their actions according to the prescription of the Rule and of their Superiors, namely according to the vow of obedience; and so all their actions are acts of religion and divine worship, both because they are done from a vow, and because they are done from obedience, which is commanded by the virtue of religion. For they have taken upon themselves the yoke of obedience for the love and honor of God alone: for they obey man for the sake of God. Thirdly, they are clothed in white robes, and have washed them in the blood of the Lamb at the very entrance into Religion. For this is like a baptism: for it confers upon them full remission of all sins, and abolishes all guilt and punishment, as it were a second baptism of holy purpose, as St. Jerome teaches to Demetrias, and St. Bernard, in the book On Precepts and Dispensations; Thomas Waldensis, On the Sacraments, title IX, chapter VIII; Sylvester under the word Religion III, doubt 23, and others. Fourthly, they have palms in their hands, because they have left the world with its pomps and conquered it. Again, day by day they tame and conquer themselves and their affections. Whence Blessed Lawrence Justinian, in the book On Monasteries, chapter XVIII: "What else," he says, "shall I call the monasteries of Religious and places of those serving God, than military stadiums and spiritual camps of those fighting?" Whence Religious are called by St. Basil of Nazianzus, Chrysostom, Cassian and others Ascetes, that is, exercisers, as it were wrestlers, athletes and boxers in the stadium and contest of virtue. Fifthly, they are in the sight of the Lamb, because they continually have Christ and the cross of Christ before their eyes, and strive to unite themselves wholly to the crucified Christ, and to transform themselves into him; whence they are called crucified by Cassian, book IV, chapter XXXII. Again, they refer their vocation, grace, freedom, and all their gifts to Christ; and therefore they continually cry out: "Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving;" for which reason their mutual consultation with one another is: "Thanks be to God." Sixthly, "These are they who have come out of great tribulation" of afflicted and troubled conscience from the remembrance of sins, by which in the world they were bound, and as it were enslaved to the devil. Again "from tribulation," which they had various in the world, and with the world, flesh and blood, especially when they changed their state, and passed from the world to Religion. Seventh, they serve God day and night through constant meditations, psalmodies, prayers, and through continuous acts of charity, zeal, patience, and other virtues. Whence, as Eusebius says, lib. I Demonst. Evang., cap. VIII: "As if separated from this mortal life, bearing only their body on earth, but dwelling in thought and mind in heaven itself, like certain heavenly beings, they despise the life of all others; indeed, they are consecrated to the highest God for the conversion of mankind." And St. Ambrose, epist. 82: "This is the militia of angels, to be always in the praises of God." Eighth: "He that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell over them." For they themselves are in the house and family of God, and always bear God's power in mind, and say to Him in every difficulty and matter: "As the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until He have mercy on us. As the eyes of a handmaid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God." Wherefore God, invoked by them, is present to them, feeds and protects them in body and spirit, and says to them the same thing which He once said to Abraham, Genesis XV: "Fear not, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great." And that passage Psalm XC: "He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven;" and that of Psalm XXXIII: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers. Many are the tribulations of the just, and from them all will the Lord deliver them;" and especially that of Zechariah II: "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye." Ninth, "They shall not hunger, neither thirst;" because they have renounced and extinguished the hunger for delights, the thirst for riches and goods: wherefore covetousness or ambition does not reign among them, there is no anxiety about offspring and family, nor do they feel the heat and ardor of concupiscence; because they have removed from themselves, through their cloisters and enclosures, all enticement and matter of sin. Wherefore that saying of St. Bernard applies to them, serm. 21 in Cant.: "Thou shalt be," he says, "amid the adversities and prosperities of changeable times, holding a certain image of eternity, namely this inviolate and unshaken equanimity of steadfast mind; blessing the Lord at all times, and thus vindicating for thyself even in the doubtful and certain defects of this mutable age a state of perpetual unchangeableness in a certain way, when thou shalt have begun to renew thyself into that distinguished ancient likeness of the eternal God, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration. For as He Himself is, so shalt thou be in this world, neither timid in adversities, nor dissolute in prosperities." Tenth: "The Lamb shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life." For the Lamb dwells among them, illuminates them, inflames them, strengthens them, pours forth the vital fountains of graces. For this Lamb is as it were a master and father of the household, as He once was in the assembly of the Apostles. For what else are Religious communities than colleges of Apostles and Societies of Jesus? And so in these that saying of Proverbs XVIII is true: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the just runneth to it, and shall be exalted." Nay, the Lamb Himself frequently feeds them in the Eucharist: for nowhere is its use more frequent or more worthy than in Religious life. Eleventh: "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," both in this life by soothing and softening the tears of compunction and penance with the joy of a holy, serene and cheerful conscience, and with divine consolations and heavenly joys; and especially in the other life He shall provide this same thing and the rest that preceded it far more abundantly. Finally, they are gathered from every nation, tribe and tongue, and dwelling in the same house as it were brothers, they love one another fraternally, and have all things in common. For, as St. Basil says, Constit. 19: "They have common souls, minds, bodies, food, clothing. Common God, common traffic of piety, common rewards and contests, common labors and crowns; where many are one, and one is not alone, but in many. These, retaining the community of life, emulate the life of angels." See Jerome Platus, lib. I De Bono status Relig., cap. I, XIII, XVI, XVII, XXII, and lib. II, cap. LI, XIV, XVII, XVIII. And God Shall Wipe Away All Tears From Their Eyes, as a mother wipes away the tears of her little child, when she brings him to her breast; and as an agonothete wipes away the drops of sweat and blood, and all the dust from the athlete and boxer, when he has come forth victorious in the contest with his opponent and has won the prize. Whence the Syriac version translates it, shall blot out, or wash away all tears from their eyes. And Shall Lead (in Greek ποιμανεῖ, that is he shall feed, or rule and govern as a shepherd) HE SHALL LEAD THEM TO THE FOUNTAINS OF WATERS OF LIFE (that is to living and perpetual fountains—for instead of ζωῆς, that is of life, some read ζώσας, that is living) — of all grace and beatific glory. These fountains shall be one immense vision and fruition of God (that is, supreme and of all good), which is one original fountain, containing many particular fountains flowing from it, namely the fullness of knowledge of all things, the abundance of all joy, an infinite treasure of heavenly riches, an exuberance of honor and glory, an aggregation of delights, pleasures and all goods, concerning which I have spoken on Isaiah, chapter XXV, at the end, and chapter XXXIII, verse 20. Cardinal Vitalis notes in the Mirror of the Moral Sense of Holy Scripture, under the word beauty, that spiritual delights are denoted rather by drink than by food, for seven reasons and analogies. The first is, that drink delights the sight both by its clarity and by its color; the second, that by its subtlety it changes the taste without intermediary; the third, that by its limpidity it is carried to each member and unites nourishment to them inseparably; the fourth, that by its power it restores what has been lost; the fifth, that by its subtlety it penetrates the whole body: whence the hungry and the faint, having drunk wine, immediately recover vigor and strength; the sixth, that by its satiety it quenches thirst, and yet provokes the appetite for eating; the seventh, that by its facility and sweetness it easily enters the innermost parts of the belly. He adds that by these seven properties are denoted rather the seven rewards, or gifts of the reward of the Blessed, namely first, contemplation without interruption; second, fruition without interruption; third, love without separation; fourth, power without corruption; fifth, wisdom without concealment; sixth, purity without rebellion; seventh, concord without discretion. Then he adapts these seven to as many classes of saints: the first, to the faith of the Patriarchs; the second, to the hope of the Prophets; the third, to the fervor of the Apostles; the fourth, to the fortitude of the Martyrs; the fifth, to the prudence of the Doctors; the sixth, to the temperance of the Virgins; the seventh, to the justice of the Confessors.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
7:4
… 25:31-46), there will come the reunion of those whom death had separated: "together" (ὅμα σόνο) they will shine in the procession of the divine King, with whom they will rejoice in his love and in that of the dear ones found again (I Thess. 3:13; 4:17; Apoc. 7:4-17; 14:1-5; cf. Dante, Paradiso, XXII, 97-110). The precursor sign of the parousia is the Antichrist (v.), working "the mystery of iniquity" that sweeps people into "apostasy": Jesus …
7:5
… The sad privilege of Dan is deduced from Gen. 49, 17, and from the omission of his name in Apoc. 7, 5-8. Sometimes Nero redivivus is considered as the A. (Cyril of Jerusalem), with the title of "king of the Jews" (Victorinus of Pettau) or as precursor of the Jew of Dan (Commodian, Lactantius). …
… In Rev. 7:5-18 D. is missing from the count of the "sealed." The Danites were distinguished for their boldness (Gen. 49:16-18) and their military power (Deut. 33:22), which were expressed in …
… the Christian era, in which Anna of the tribe of Asher is remembered, and Paul of Benjamin (Lk. 2, 36; Rom. 11, 1; Phil. 3, 5). There is also talk of the 12 tribes of Israel, to mean the totality of the chosen people in the messianic sense (Mt. 19, 28; Rev. 7, 5 ff.; 21, 12 ff.; cf. Ezek. 47, 13-48, 35). Giovanni Rinaldi
7:9
PALMA. - By their blood the martyrs merit from Christ the prize of eternal life, and therefore in the apocalyptic division they carry the palm (Rev. 7:9).
Stole (More Antiquely Orarium)
… The word "stole" comes from the denomination used in Gaul and derived from Greek to designate not a feminine garment, but a distinctive garment in the scriptural sense (Rev. 6:11; 7:9, 14).
7:12
… untranslatable term (cf. M. Victorinus, Adv. Arium, 3, 9; St. Augustine, De doctr. christ., 2, 11; Tractatus in Io., 8, 34), one of those mystical words which, like the Alleluia, even in the heavens form part of the canticles of the Church triumphant (Rev. 5:14; 7:12; 19:4):
7:13
Domitian, Titus Flavius (Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus), Roman Emperor
… In this same work, moreover, there is no lack of allusions to the persecution and to the martyrs of Asia Minor, among whom Antipas is expressly named (v. Apoc. 2, 8-13; 6, 9 ff.; 7, 13 ff.; 12, 11 ff.). …
7:14
Certain categories of Saints have a special motive for glory, with reference to an extraordinary victory won over the world (the martyrs: Matt. 10, 32; Apoc. 7, 14), over error (the doctors, Dan. 12, 3), over the flesh (the virgins: Apoc. 14, 3-4): this particular perfection of accidental beatitude, called the "aureole" (Sum. …
7:16
… Theol., Suppl., q. 96, a. 1; cf. aa. 5-7), consists in a special enjoyment of the blessed spirit, which after the resurrection of the body will overflow upon the body (ibid., a. 10). All the blessed are free from every present evil and from any disturbance and danger for the future (Apoc. 7, 16-17 and 21; II Cor. 5, 1; St. John Chrysostom, Ad Theodorum Lapsum 1, 11: PG 47, 291).
… speaks in 1 Cor. 15:42-44; a) impassibility or incorruptibility (ἀφθαρσία) derived from the perfect subjection of the body to the soul (cf. St. Thomas, Sum. Theol., suppl., q. 82, a. 1), whereby they will be preserved from every pain (cf. Is. 25:8; 49:10; Rev. 7:16-17; 21:4); b) clarity (δόξα), which will reflect upon the bodies of the Saints the interior splendor of the soul (Sum. …
7:17
… Sadness amid the laughter of the world's revelers, shunned and hated by Jews and pagans, will be transformed into joy (Jn. 16:20-22; II Cor. 7:10; I Pt. 2:19; Apoc. 7:17; 21:4). The Messiah comes to console the afflicted (Is. 61:2 nāḥam, Septuagint τοὺς πενθοῦντας; cf. Is. 25:8). As a condition of eternal happiness, the cross of Christ already brings …
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.