The seventh seal is opened. The angels with the seven trumpets.
1 The seuenth seale being opened, there appeare Angels vvith trempets: 5 and vvhen an other Angel povvred out fire taken from the altar, vpon the earth, there folovv diuers tempestes. 7 In like maner, vvhiles foure Angels of the seuen sound their trempets, there fall sundrie plagues.
1And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour.E avendo aperto il settimo sigillo, si fe' silenzio nel cielo, quasi di mezz'ora.AND vvhen he had opened the seuenth seale, there vvas made silence in heauen, as it vvere halfe an houre.Et cum aperuisset sigillum septimum, factum est silentium in cælo, quasi media hora. 2And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God: and there were given to them seven trumpets.E vidi i sette Angeli, che stanno dinanzi a Dio: e furono ad essi date sette trombe.And I savv seuen Angels standing in the sight of God: and there vvere giuen to them seuen trompets.Et vidi septem angelos stantes in conspectu Dei: et datæ sunt illis septem tubæ. 3And another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer: and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which is before the throne of God.E venne un altr'Angelo, e fermossi avanti l'altare, tenendo un turibolo d'oro: e fugli data gran quantità d'incenso, affinchè offerisse delle orazioni di tutti i santi sopra l'altare d'oro, che è dinanzi al trono di Dio.And an other Angel came, and stoode before the altar, hauing a golden censar: and there vvere giuen to him many incenses, that he should giue of the praiers of al sainctes vpon the altar of gold, vvhich is before the throne of God.Et alius angelus venit, et stetit ante altare habens thuribulum aureum: et data sunt illi incensa multa, ut daret de orationibus sanctorum omnium super altare aureum, quod est ante thronum Dei. 4And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.E sali il fumo degli incensi delle orazioni de' santi dalla mano dell'Angelo davanti a Dio.And the smoke of the incēses of the praiers of the sainctes ascended from the hand of the Angel before God.Et ascendit fumus incensorum de orationibus sanctorum de manu angeli coram Deo. 5And the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it on the earth: and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and a great earthquake.E prese l'Angelo il turibolo e lo empiè di fuoco dell'altare, e gittollo sulla terra, e ne vennero tuoni, e voci, e folgori, e tremuoto grande.And the Angel tooke the censar, and filled it, of the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there vvere made thunders & voices and lightenings, and a great earthquake.Et accepit angelus thuribulum, et implevit illud de igne altaris, et misit in terram: et facta sunt tonitrua, et voces, et fulgura, et terræmotus magnus.
6And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound the trumpet.E i sette Angeli, che avean le sette trombe, si accinsero a suonarle.And the seuē Angels vvhich had the seuen trompets, prepared them selues to sound vvith the trompet.Et septem angeli, qui habebant septem tubas, præparaverunt se ut tuba canerent. 7And the first angel sounded the trumpet: and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood: and it was cast on the earth. And the third part of the earth was burnt up: and the third part of the trees was burnt up: and all green grass was burnt up.E il primo Angelo dette fiato alla tromba, e si fe' grandine, e fuoco con mescolamento di sangue, lo che fu gittato sopra la terra, e la terza parte della terra fu arsa, e la terza parte degli alberi furon arsi, e tutta l'erba verdeggiante fu arsa.And the first Angel sounded vvith the trompet, and there vvas made haile and fire, mingled in bloud, and it vvas cast on the earth, & the third part of the earth was burnt, & the third part of trees vvas burnt, and al greene grasse vvas burnt.Et primus angelus tuba cecinit, et facta est grando, et ignis, mista in sanguine, et missum est in terram, et tertia pars terræ combusta est, et tertia pars arborum concremata est, et omne fœnum viride combustum est. 8And the second angel sounded the trumpet: and, as it were, a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea. And the third part of the sea became blood.E il secondo Angelo diè fiato alla tromba: e quasi un gran monte ardente di fuoco fu gittato nel mare, e la terza parte del mare diventò sangue,And the second Angel sounded vvith the trompet: and as it vvere a great mountaine burning vvith fire, vvas cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea vvas made bloud:Et secundus angelus tuba cecinit: et tamquam mons magnus igne ardens missus est in mare, et facta est tertia pars maris sanguis, 9And the third part of those creatures died which had life in the sea: and the third part of the ships was destroyed.E morì la terza parte delle creature animate nel mare, e la terza parte delle navi perì.and the third part of those creatures died, vvhich had liues in the sea, and the third part of the shippes perished.et mortua est tertia pars creaturæ eorum, quæ habebant animas in mari, et tertia pars navium interiit. 10And the third angel sounded the trumpet: and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch. And it fell on the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters:E il terzo Angelo diè fiato alla tromba: e cadde dal cielo una stella grande, ardente come una fiaccola, e cadde nella terza parte de' fiumi, e delle fontane:And the third Angel sounded vvith the trompet, and a great starre fel from heauen, burning as it vvere a torche, and it fel on the third part of the floudes, and on the fountaines of vvaters:Et tertius angelus tuba cecinit: et cecidit de cælo stella magna, ardens tamquam facula, et cecidit in tertiam partem fluminum, et in fontes aquarum:
11And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood. And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.E il nome della stella si dice assenzio; e la terza parte dell'acque diventò assenzio: e molti uomini moriron dell'acque, perché diventate amare.and the name of the starre is called vvormevvod. and the third part of the vvaters was made into worme wod: and many men died of the vvaters, because they vvere made bitter.et nomen stellæ dicitur Absinthium, et facta est tertia pars aquarum in absinthium; et multi hominum mortui sunt de aquis, quia amaræ factæ sunt. 12And the fourth angel sounded the trumpet: and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened. And the day did not shine for a third part of it: and the night in like manner.E il quarto Angelo diè fiato alla tromba: e fu percossa la terza parte del sole, e la terza parte della luna, e la terza parte delle stelle, di modo che la terza parte di esse fu oscurata, onde la terza parte non dava lume al giorno, e similmente alla notte.And the fourth Angel sounded vvith the trompet, and the third part of the sunne vvas smitten, and the third part of the moone, and the third part of the starres, so that the third part of them vvas darkened, and of the day there shined not the third part, and of the night in like maner.Et quartus angelus tuba cecinit: et percussa est tertia pars solis, et tertia pars lunæ, et tertia pars stellarum, ita ut obscuraretur tertia pars eorum, et diei non luceret pars tertia, et noctis similiter. 13And I beheld: and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, Woe, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the rest of the voices of the three angels, who are yet to sound the trumpet!E vidi, e udii la voce di un'aquila, che volava per mezzo il cielo, e con gran voce diceva: guai, guai, guai agli abitanti nella terra dalle altre voci dei tre Angeli, che stanno per suonare la tromba.And I looked, and heard the voice of one egle flying through the middes of heauen, saying vvith a loud voice, Vvo, vvo, vvo to the inhabiters on the earth: because of the rest of the voices of the three Angels vvhich vvere to sound vvith the trompet.Et vidi, et audivi vocem unius aquilæ volantis per medium cæli dicentis voce magna: Væ, væ, væ habitantibus in terra de ceteris vocibus trium angelorum, qui erant tuba canituri.
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Witham
There was silence in heaven: which is to represent as it were a general consternation, and an expectation of dreadful events at the opening of the seventh seal, and when seven Angels stood prepared to sound seven trumpets. (Witham)
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Witham
Stood before the altar, having a golden censer. In the visions is an allusion to the tabernacle and its parts. The altar of perfumes was in the sanctum[the holy place], hard by the entrance into the sanctum sanctorum[the holy of holies], and here the golden altar is said to be before the throne of God. The incense from the censer is said to be the prayers of all the Saints, which the Angel offered up. The altar seems to signify our Saviour Christ, as the prayers of all the faithful are always made through the merits of Christ, our only chief Mediator or Redeemer. By the fire cast upon the earth, (ver. 5.) is signified the fire of divine charity, now to be exercised by the ways of justice, to draw persons to their conversion by punishments. (Witham)
Calmet
We may observe both in this and other places of the Apocalypse, that St. John makes continual allusions to what was done in the temple of Jerusalem, for which he gives us symbolical reasons. Thus on the present occasion, the incense which was offered morning and evening in the temple, on the golden altar, is represented as done here in heaven. (Calmet)
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Witham
The first Angel sounded, etc. From this place to the eleventh verse of chapter xx. the visions are differently expounded. Some interpret them, without applying them to any particular events, as general comminations, in a mystical and allegorical sense of the many persecutions which God permits to happen to his Church. Others think that they are all predictions, which shall not happen till a little time before the end of the world, in antichrist's time, after which will follow the day of the general judgment, the punishment of the wicked, and the reward of the just. But there are others, both ancient and later writers, as in particular Alcazar, the bishop of Meaux (Bossuet,) Pere Alleman, to whom we may add among the Protestants, Dr. Hammond, whom the bishop of Meaux calls the most learned of all the English Protestants. According to the interpretations which these writers have followed, these predictions of St. John (except the last persecution, when the devil shall be let loose, Apocalypse 20:7, in the time of the great antichrist) have already happened in the three first ages[centuries], during the persecutions of the heathen emperors, as I shall briefly take notice. Hail therefore, and fire, blood, falling of stars, etc. some look upon as mystical representations, to signify that a great many trials and persecutions shall happen to the good, and a great many punishments and chastisements shall fall upon the wicked; with this grand difference, that the sufferings of the good shall be short and momentary, and their reward a crown of endless glory; but the wicked, if any of them escape punishments in this world, can never escape eternal torments with the devils in the next. 2. It is also a very common opinion, that all these disasters shall happen in a great measure, literally about antichrist's time, a very short time before the end of the world. 3. Others apply all these events to the judgments which God's justice exercised either upon the Jews, in the time of Trajan and Adrian, or upon the heathen Roman emperors, and upon the pagan city of Rome, for persecuting the servants of God. (Witham)
Pastorini
As these Angels with their trumpets, according to Pastorini, denote the sufferings of the Church during the seven ages that it lasts, it may not be improper to point out the time, according to his opinion, when each Angel sounded the trumpet. Thus the first trumpet denotes the persecutions of the first three centuries, in which the Christians suffered death by the sword, (denoted by blood) by being stoned, (denoted by the hail) and by fire, when the third part of the trees were burnt, that is, the third part of the clergy were destroyed. (Pastorini)
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Pastorini
The great mountain denotes the heresy of Arius, which caused the greatest troubles in the Church, and destroyed many churches, which are here denoted by the ships. (Pastorini)
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Witham
A great star fell. The bishop of Meaux [Bossuet] thinks this agrees very well to Cochebas, or Barcochebas, who in Adrian's time pretended to be the true Messias of the Jews; his name also signifying a star. He was the chief cause of those wars, and of the utter destruction of the Jews. (Witham)
Pastorini
The third trumpet points out to us the punishment that falls upon the Roman empire, in its destruction by the northern nations. These people spread themselves over the third part of the rivers and provinces of ancient Rome. The star is called wormwood, from the bitter calamities and miseries which they inflicted upon the Roman empire. (Pastorini)
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Witham
The third part of the sun was smitten. This may signify a third part of men killed in those wars, or (according to the opinion that refers all to antichrist's time) that in those days the sun and moon shall not give above a third part of their light. (Witham)
Pastorini
Here we behold a noble figure of the Church, which whilst in its most flourishing state, like the sun, is suddenly obscured, and a third part extinguished by the heresy and schism of the Greeks, under Photius, which began in 866[A.D. 866], and infected all orders of Christians, clergy and laity, princes and individuals, signified by the sun, moon, and stars. (Pastorini)
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Witham
The voice of one eagle: in divers Greek copies, of an Angel, saying, Woe, woe, woe! It is to foretell, in general, greater punishments and miseries. The Protestant translation has followed those Greek copies that read an Angel; but Dr. Wells, in his amendments, has restored that reading of an eagle which the ancient Latin interpreter had met with. (Witham)
Pastorini
An eagle, on account of its swiftness, is here represented as chosen to announce by its cry of woe on the three succeeding ages of the Church, greater disasters to be sustained than in the preceding ages. (Pastorini)
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Concordance THE 4 VISION.
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The Priest standing at the altar praying & offering for the people in the time of the high mysteries, Christ him self also being present vpon the altar, is a figure of this thing, & therevnto he alludeth.
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If this be S. Michael or any Angel, and not Christ him self, as some take it, Angels offer vp the praiers of the faithful, as the 24 Elders did chap. 5. for this vvvord, Saincts, is taken here for the holy persons on earth, as often in the Scripture: though it be not against the Scriptures, that the inferior Sainct or Angel in heauē should offer their praiers to God by their superiors there. But hereby vve cōclude against the Protestants, that it derogateth not from Christ, that Angels or Saincts offer our praiers to God. as also it is plaine of Raphael Tob. 12, 12.
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.105
105. But it is now time, I think, to speak of the trumpets since my discourse is nearing its end, that the trumpet may also be the sign of the finishing of my address. We read of seven trumpets in the Revelation of John, which seven angels received.
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Prayer 16
… If, on the one hand, it is irreverent to sit under the eye, and over against the eye, of him whom you most of all revere and venerate; how much more, on the other hand, is that deed most irreligious under the eye of the living God, while the angel of prayer is still standing by
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 10.4
… To such will I declare myself; let them breathe freely at my good deeds, and sigh over my evil ones. My good deeds are Thy institutions and Thy gifts, my evil ones are my delinquencies and Thy judgments. Let them breathe freely at the one, and sigh over the other; and let hymns and tears ascend into Thy sight out of the fraternal hearts—Thy censers.
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.19
… saying concerning the creatures, ‘The earth is full of Thy creation,’ and ‘the creation itself groaneth together and travaileth together ;’ and in the Apocalypse it says, ‘And the third part of the creatures in the sea died which had life;’ as also Paul says, ‘Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving
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1. AND WHEN HE HAD OPENED THE SEVENTH SEAL, THERE WAS SILENCE IN HEAVEN, AS IT WERE FOR HALF AN HOUR. — First, Primasius and Victorinus: "Silence," they say, "of half an hour shows the beginning of eternal rest: and John saw a part of the silence, because he was yet to see the same things." Second, Ambrose understands by this silence the nativity of Christ, in which there was silence throughout the whole world, that is, peace, which Nero later broke by persecution stirred up in the Church. Again, Christ was born in silence, that is, at midnight, Wisdom xviii, 14: "When quiet silence held all things, and the night in its swift course was now half gone, thy almighty word, O Lord, leaped down from thy royal throne, etc., into the midst of the earth." Third, Haymo and Ansbertus: By silence, they say, of half an hour is signified the brevity of quiet in the contemplation of heavenly things, which God grants to the Saints in this life, so that they may foretaste and have a foretaste of future happiness. I say brevity: for soon after it, various tumults of thoughts thrust themselves in and press upon the mind. Whence also a certain modern doctor interprets this silence of a certain act of divine love, which causes the soul to languish and to forget all human things. But this is mystical and symbolical, as I shall say below. Such is that saying of Matthias of Sweden: "At the end of the world silence shall hold sway over faith, virtue and piety, because iniquity shall abound." Fourth, Lyra and Aureolus, as I said in chapter vi, understand by this silence the silent and brief persecution of Julian the Apostate, who imposed silence on Christians both in the Church and in the military, academy and schools. But this persecution was signified by the second and third seals. Fifth, Rupertus: This silence, he says, signifies that no one on the day of judgment will dare to open his mouth against Christ the judge. Again, it signifies the future rest of the Saints after the day of judgment. But this will be eternal: how then after this silence does John bring new plagues upon the world? Sixth, Alcazar: The mystery of the seventh seal, he says, is nothing other than the great severity with which God punishes through seven plagues the Jews who rejected Christ. But the silence preceding the plagues signifies the remarkable patience of Christians, by which they silently and steadfastly endured the most savage persecution from the Jews, on account of which plagues are prepared for the Jews in the seventh seal, when the patience of Christians had already reached the height of perfection. For although this persecution of the primitive Church lasted forty years, it is nevertheless called here half an hour, just as by Paul, II Corinthians iv, 17, it is called "momentary and light tribulation of ours." For an hour signifies the whole time of persecution, which because God shortens it, hence it is called half an hour. He alludes to Tobias chapter xi, verse 14, where when Tobias the younger had anointed the eyes of his blind father with the gall of a fish, it is added: "And he endured it as it were for half an hour; and a white film began to come out of his eyes, like the membrane of an egg; which Tobias seizing drew from his eyes, and immediately he received his sight." For just as Tobias the elder, enduring the bitterness of the gall for half an hour, merited to receive his sight: so the first Christians, enduring the persecution of the Jews, merited great happiness, namely the increase and propagation of the Church among the Gentiles: when in turn God punished and destroyed the Jews through Titus. Moreover, the half hour of Tobias's endurance, by which he received his sight, signifies symbolically and tropologically that the short way to the greatest light and knowledge of God is labor and tribulation. These things have been added, but they are mystical and tropological. For according to the letter, it is a matter of the silence not of those suffering on earth, but of the Blessed in heaven. Seventh, Pererius holds the opinion that the seventh seal consists precisely in this silence, and that the seven plagues, the seven Angels' trumpets which follow, are signified beforehand to this silence, but are postponed to it by hysteron proteron. Moreover, by this silence is signified a period of forty-five days of rest, which shall be given to the Church and to men after the death of Antichrist, so that those who have fallen in his persecution may repent, as Daniel predicted in chapter xii, verse 12. Thus also think Bede, Anselm, Richard, Thomas, and Dionysius. Pannonian also agrees, who nevertheless further adds that the same rest of the Church after the death of Antichrist is signified by a thousand years, which are said to be after the first resurrection, chapter xx, verses 4 and 6. For this space is said to be brief here, namely half an hour, but in chapter xx long, namely a thousand years, so that no one may dare to define its length with certainty. During which time Christians, enjoying peace and leisure, shall again flow into vices, so that when the Son of Man comes, He shall scarcely find faith, as He Himself predicted in Luke xii; and therefore men indulging their nature and vices, just as in the days of Noah, shall be overwhelmed by God's vengeance and Christ's final judgment suddenly. But there is too great a distance between half an hour and a thousand years. Again, these thousand years shall not follow, but shall end in the persecution of Antichrist, as shall be evident in chapter xx. Eighth, Andrew of Caesarea and Arethas think that by the seventh seal is signified the end of the earthly kingdom, life and conduct, to which the seven Angels are subservient, constituted to inflict punishments on the impious. Silence therefore signifies the supreme reverence and shame of the Angels toward God, offended and angered by so many sins of men. For thus when a king is angry, all courtiers, even the innocent, from reverence and shame collect themselves, contract, and are struck dumb with fear. Or certainly this silence signifies ignorance of the day of Christ's coming to judgment: for the prudent are silent about what they do not know. But half an hour signifies the brevity of the time which shall intervene between the final plagues to be brought upon the world and the manifestation of Christ's kingdom and the day of judgment. Ninth, most excellently Viegas and Ribera judge that the seventh seal does not consist in this silence, but in the following seven trumpets, by which the Angels announce punishments and as it were summon them upon those who are not sealed in chapter vii, 3 and following, just as by the sixth seal was signified the happiness of those who are sealed. Whence in chapter ix it is said: "And it was commanded that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only men who have not the sign of God on their foreheads." Silence therefore was a circumstance preceding, or rather accompanying the seven trumpets and plagues, and signifies a tacit expectation and consideration of the seven trumpets and plagues, as of great, unusual and wonderful things, and thence a consequent as it were admiration and amazement even to silence of the heavenly beings, wondering and admiring both the glory of the sealed Saints, seen in the sixth seal, and the punishments of the impious contained in the seventh seal. For now the seventh seal was opened. For He says: "And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour. And immediately He adds: "And I saw seven Angels standing in the sight of God, and there were given to them seven trumpets," by which namely they would announce and summon the seven plagues upon the impious. Although therefore the Blessed on earth and in natural and earthly things, as being small, marvel at nothing: they nevertheless marvel at divine and heavenly things, as being supernatural, and especially at the ineffable and incomprehensible rewards of the Saints and punishments of the impious. For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, what good God hath prepared for those who love Him, and what evil for those who hate Him. Second and rather, this brief silence signifies this glory prepared for the Saints, which John saw in the preceding chapter in the sixth seal, not to come immediately to the Saints, but after half an hour, namely after the prodigies and punishments of the impious, contained in the seventh seal and seven trumpets. For after these things full blessedness shall be obtained by them, which St. John describes in chapters xxi and xxii. Silence therefore of this half hour was at the same time when the seven Angels poured out the seven plagues: for then the heavenly beings were silent, so that by this silence they might signify that the Saints likewise shall be silent on earth, nor shall be raised up to heaven to the hymns of Angels, which John heard in the sixth seal, in the preceding chapter, verse 12, to be heard and likewise to be sung together, until these plagues are completed. Tropologically, this silence denotes a kind of shame and reverence in the Saints, and gratitude; for it is the part of the Saints, upon seeing the punishment of the wicked, to remember their own worthlessness and their sins, and to be ashamed and grateful to God, that they see themselves saved and chosen, while those are rejected and damned. Again, silence is a sign of praise and of a certain modest approbation, by which the Blessed tacitly approve and commend the integrity and equity of divine justice. To this pertains that passage of Psalm LXIV: "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion;" where the Hebrew texts have: Silence is due to thee, O God, in Sion; for God is honored by pious and reverent silence equally as by voice and hymns. These three last opinions are probable, and among them the last opinion of Ribera is more probable. For these seals, as I have often said, do not follow, but precede the Antichrist; and the seven trumpets and the plagues that follow plainly appear to be the mystery of the seventh seal, not this bare and frigid silence: especially since this silence must necessarily be referred to these plagues. For no one is silent on account of himself, but on account of something else, namely on account of unusual plagues or rewards which he beholds. Wherefore some think that this silence lasted until the destruction of the wicked and of Babylon: for when that is destroyed, it is broken off, cap. xix, where it is said: "After these things I heard as it were the voice of much people in heaven, saying: Alleluia, salvation, and glory, and power be to our God, etc., who hath judged the great harlot." For immediately after the destruction of Babylon, as it were a prelude, there will follow a like destruction of the Antichrist and the Antichristians, by which the kingdom of impiety and of the impious will be completely overthrown, after which the happiness and glory seen in the sixth seal will be obtained by the Saints, and then, the silence being broken, they will sing eternal hymns with the Angels to God. This opinion is proved first, because this silence is referred to the plagues that follow, and was made on account of them: therefore it ought not to be separated from them. Secondly, because those sealed in the sixth seal, in the preceding chapter, were sealed for this reason, that they might not be touched by these plagues of the seventh seal: therefore these plagues follow the sixth seal, and pertain to the seventh. John himself sufficiently signifies this, when he joins silence with the plagues, saying: "And there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God, and to them were given seven trumpets." Andreas, Aretas, Ribera, Viegas, Arias Montanus, Alcazar and others deny this, and assert that the seven plagues plainly and properly pertain to the seventh seal, while silence is merely a circumstance of the seal and the plagues; whence it follows that the seventh seal extends to the end of cap. xi. The very division of chapters, approved and received by the Church, favors this. For in this chapter the seventh seal is opened, vers. 1. And immediately, vers. 2 and seq., the angels bringing the plagues are enumerated. But if vers. 2 begins a wholly new matter, then certainly chapter viii should begin there, and vers. 1 should be referred to the seventh chapter, and the seven seals should end there. Symbolically, St. Gregory, homil. 14 in Ezech.: "Heaven," he says, "is the soul of the just: when therefore the quiet of the contemplative life is exercised in the mind, silence is made in heaven, because the noise of earthly deeds ceases from thought, so that the mind may apply its ear to the secret inner chamber; but it is as it were for about half an hour, because as soon as the mind begins to lift itself up, and to be suffused with the light of intimate quiet, the noise of thoughts returning quickly confuses it from itself, and being confused it is blinded." Following St. Gregory, St. Bernard, in his homily On Two Disciples Going to Emmaus, teaches that in meditation there sometimes arises a ray of contemplation and jubilation, but one which passes away like lightning. "This," he says, "is that most sweet ray of contemplation, by which the soul is lifted up through the locks of the head, when, meditation growing hot and prayer sparkling, there is born in the heart a certain jubilation, namely a honeyed laughter of the heart, which no one knows except he who feels it, nor even he himself who feels it, because it passes away quickly. Happy hour, but brief stay, because there was silence in heaven for about half an hour." And he adds: "Those who have experience know what I say, who have learned by this experience of intimate sweetness; because when in the fervor of prayer the heat of meditation is mingled, that ray of contemplation bursts forth from the midst of them like a species of amber, that is from the midst of fire. And sparks as it were of glowing air, namely the sighs of a jubilant conscience." Morally, learn here how great is the virtue of silence, which even in heaven they observe, and which the Blessed commend to us: concerning which virtue I have said much on Isaiah cap. xxx, 15, and cap. xxxii, vers. 17, and Lamentations III, 26. Wherefore "St. Mechtildis imposed silence upon herself to such a degree that you would believe her to be mute: but if she spoke, you would think you were conversing with an Angel," says Engelhard in her Life, cap. v; and she therefore, as the same author relates, when on one occasion an idle word inadvertently escaped her, chastised it for a long time with many tears and penances. Angelic silence therefore taught her and those like her, and teaches them, to speak angelically.
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2. AND I SAW SEVEN ANGELS STANDING IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. — These are the seven chief Angels in the heavenly court, and princes of the Church, to whom the care of men and the Church has been entrusted by God, concerning whom I spoke in chapter i, verse 4. Thus Andrew, Aretas and Ribera. Otherwise others think differently. For first, some believe these Angels to be seven demons, because they bring plagues. Others understand by Angels the very plagues themselves, which God sends upon the wicked. For thus winds are called Angels in Psalm ciii, 4: "Who maketh his Angels spirits," that is, winds. Thus Arias Montanus. Fourth, Ticonius, Primasius, Bede, Anselm, by seven Angels think to signify all the doctors and preachers of the Church. Thus also nearly Ambrose. The first, he says, Angel designates preachers who existed before the law of Moses; the second, Moses and the doctors of the law; the third, the Prophets; the fourth, Christ and the Apostles; the fifth, defenders of the faith; the sixth, Martyrs; the seventh, Elijah and Enoch, and other preachers at the end of the world. Thus nearly also Andrew and Joachim, except that Joachim thinks them to be noted only those who shall be from Christ through seven as it were ages and centuries of the Church, until the end of the world. Finally Alcazar holds that the seven trumpets are seven prophecies concerning seven plagues to be brought upon the Jews, which the Angels, that is, the Prophets and preachers, recalled to the Jews in the primitive Church. But the first sense is the literal and genuine one. For concerning these Angels it is said that they were "standing in the sight of God:" therefore they were true Angels, and those good and first and chief. The same is confirmed from the Antiphon, which the Church recites in the office of St. Michael at Vespers, in which it is said: "When John beheld the sacred mystery, the Archangel Michael sounded the trumpet: Forgive us, O Lord our God." Therefore one of these seven Angels was Michael. Where I note in passing from Alcazar, that τὸ "forgive us, O Lord," is not a trumpet, nor the voice of an Angel, namely Michael, but of the Church: which seeing St. Michael as it were sounding the clarion to strike down the wicked, falls upon her knees and interceding for them says: "Forgive us, O Lord." AND THERE WERE GIVEN TO THEM SEVEN TRUMPETS. — Many interpret and explain these trumpets enigmatically, but violently, as may be seen in the explanation of Aureolus and Lyran, reviewed a little before. Our Alcazar holds that by these seven trumpets and their plagues are signified the most grievous punishments by which God showed His severity against the rebellious Jews during the times of the primitive Church, namely in the first century of the Christian Church. Moreover, these seven plagues are: "Famine, war, pestilence, ignorance, concupiscence, wrath, hardness of heart." But these are likewise enigmatic and mystical plagues, not literal ones. Add that here we are not dealing with plagues of the Jews already past, but with future ones of the whole world at its end. I say therefore, according to the letter, that these seven Angels have seven trumpets, so that by sounding and blaring them through preachers, they might foretell and as it were summon the most grievous calamities and punishments of the world (under its end, shortly before Antichrist) to men. The blaring therefore of these trumpets is not real, but symbolic. For John was seen to see Angels blaring with trumpets, not that they truly blare with them at the end of the world, but so that by this blaring as it were by a symbol it might be signified that they through Prophets and preachers as it were trumpets, these plagues in the world would proclaim, preach and bring about. The blaring therefore of these Angels will be prophecy and the preaching of preachers, suggested to them by Angels: which is called a trumpet, by allusion to the seven trumpets of the Hebrews blaring, by which the city of Jericho fell, Joshua vi, 4, of which it is said there: "Whose use was in the jubilee," by which namely the jubilee was promulgated. And so just as God by prostrating the city of Jericho and delivering its citizens to the Hebrews for slaughter, gave to the Hebrews victory over enemies, triumph and as it were a jubilee: so at the end of the world God by these trumpets and plagues by punishing the impious, will thereby signify to the pious and holy that redemption and perpetual jubilee in the heavens is at hand, according to that Luke xxi, 18: "But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand." Add: perhaps also the Angels themselves by a sensible instrument, such as a trumpet, or by a trumpet-like voice, will proclaim these same plagues and truly effect and produce them. For thus truly the Archangel summoning and calling the dead to judgment will sound a trumpet, I Cor. xv, 52. For this seems most literal and plain, and thus it seems to be explained in verses 6 and following. The blaring therefore of the trumpets is a certain proclamation, and as it were a promulgation and beginning of war: whence the blaring is immediately followed by a plague, just as in chapter xvi the pouring out of a phial is followed by a plague. Just as therefore a judge orders a sentence passed against a defendant to be proclaimed by a herald, and immediately to be carried out: so also here God orders these plagues to be proclaimed by Angels, and truly to be inflicted. Symbolically and tropologically St. Hildegard in the year of the Lord 1146, abounding in light and divine revelation, so much so that Tauler writes of her in the book of Prophecy, page 671, "Blessed Hildegard explained the ninth chapter of the Apocalypse more clearly than light:": Hildegard, I say, in her letter to the Abbess St. Glodesindis, pages 105 and 106, explains and names these seven plagues thus: "The first," she says, "is vain glory; the second, the embrace of pleasure; the third, to live as dead to God; the fourth, to excuse oneself from the aforesaid sins; the fifth, pride; the sixth, to seek consolation from a creature, and not from God; the seventh, the servitude of idolatry, which adores the devil." She then adds that these seven vices are overcome through the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
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3. AND ANOTHER ANGEL CAME, AND STOOD BEFORE THE ALTAR (of incense) HAVING A GOLDEN CENSER. — Alcazar takes the censer, in Greek λιβανωτόν, improperly for a small box or casket of incense, which sacristans call a boat (because it has that shape), as if to say: the Angel approaching the altar, his boat was filled with incense, so that he might place it on the altar and burn and offer it there. For Alcazar holds that the incense was burned on the altar itself, not in the censer or in a brazier placed on the altar: the altar itself was the brazier. But the contrary is both more fitting and more true. For incense and aromatic spices are customarily not burned immediately on the altar itself, but in a brazier or censer placed on the altar and are offered and burned there; thus this action is shown in Exodus xxx, 8. I therefore take the censer here properly; for the Angel immediately in verse 5 filled it with fire; which is not customarily thrown into a boat. The Angel therefore had such a censer, and filling it with incense or aromatic spices given to him, he placed it upon the altar, and there permitted it to be offered and to evaporate. You will ask: Who was this Angel? First, Alcazar responds that it is Christian charity: for to charity here by prosopopoeia is given the name and person of an Angel. For it impelled the first Christians to pour forth burning prayers for their Jewish persecutors, by which they might turn away from them the punishments of God, which they saw impending upon them. It also cast fire and coals of its love upon the earth. It signifies therefore that Christ expected that the charity of the first Christians in the persecution of the Jews would blaze forth, and thus would receive its fullness before He poured out His wrath and vengeance upon the Jews. Second, Aureolus consequently to the foregoing holds this Angel to be St. Damasus the Pope, under whom the Church flourished and grew greatly, because he instituted that psalms be sung in the Church, and at their end there be added: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." Whence it is said here that many incenses were given to him; and soon "there were voices," that is, at that time there flourished Doctors, who are as it were the mouth and voice of the Church, namely St. Jerome, Ambrose, Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine; and "lightnings," that is, fervent Saints, such as Hermits living a heavenly life, as St. Macarius, Moses and others throughout Egypt; and "thunders," that is, workers of miracles, such as St. Martin and others, from whom a great commotion was made in the Church, both of the earth and of souls. Third, Viegas holds this Angel to be Christ: for it is Christ's to offer to God the incense of the whole Church, that is, prayers; and He Himself is the Angel of great counsel, who sent fire from His censer to the earth, when He sent the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and inflamed the Apostles with charity. Wherefore Christ appears here as it were a priest with a censer, because He is the mediator between God and men. Moreover, Christ takes fire from the altar, namely from the altar of holocausts, that is, from the cross. By the merit of His cross He obtained and sent us the Holy Ghost, and soon there began lightnings, thunders, and earthquakes; because soon the Apostles began to thunder in various tongues, to flash and gleam with miracles, and to shake all men with the fear of God. But although these things seem plausible, yet they are mystical, and do not cohere sufficiently with the letter and text. For Christ here in chapter iv, verses 5 and seq., was seen by John as a Lamb (not as an Angel standing before Him who sits on the throne) and opening the seven seals of the sealed book; so that this Angel here would offer this incense of prayers both to the Lamb and to Him who sits on the throne. I say therefore: This Angel was truly and properly an Angel, just as the other seven, who sound the trumpet and send forth the plagues. Thus Aretas, Ribera and others. Some think this Angel was Gabriel or Raphael; but Alcazar and others rather count these among the Angels of the trumpets, as chief ones standing in the sight of God in verse 2. Moreover, from this passage of the Apocalypse and similar ones, learned men gather that there is a particular Angel who assists the priest celebrating, helps him and directs him, offers his prayers and sacrifices to God, whether this angel be the guardian of the one celebrating, or the guardian of the altar and temple, appointed by God peculiarly to this guardianship and oblation of sacrifices, of whom we read in the Spiritual Meadow by John Moschus, cap. iv, that Leontius the Abbot going on Sunday into the church for the sacred mysteries, saw an Angel standing at the altar, and heard from him: "From the time this altar was sanctified, I have been commanded to stand continually at it." Thus in the Life of St. Chrysostom we read that soldiers sent by Eudoxia to Chrysostom in the temple were repelled by an Angel standing before the doors of the vestibule and brandishing a sword, and returned home with their business unaccomplished. Thus Ado in his Chronicles, age 6, under the year 774, relates that the Saxons, wishing to invade a church consecrated by St. Boniface, were put to flight by two youths (certainly Angels) of wondrous brightness and splendor defending it. This Angel therefore is either the guardian of the altar, or the guardian of the priest, who assists the one celebrating more attentively and efficaciously; or both. Whence concerning him we read and pray daily in the canon of the Mass, saying: "We humbly beseech thee, almighty God, command these things to be borne by the hands of thy holy Angel, to thy sublime altar in the sight of thy divine Majesty," etc. Thus St. Thomas, III part., Quaest. LXXXIII, art. 4, ad 9. In like manner, when Zacharias was offering incense, "there appeared to him an Angel of the Lord (Gabriel) standing on the right side of the altar of incense, and said to him: Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John," Luke i, 12. Thus an Angel appearing to Manoah, and promising him a son Samson, stood by Manoah's offering: "And when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, the Angel of the Lord went up also in the flame." Judges xiii, 20. Thus an Angel stood by Gideon sacrificing, and touching the victim with a rod drew forth fire from the rock, which kindled and consumed the victim, Judges cap. vi, vers. 21. Thus an Angel stood by Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, and restrained his sword, and substituted a ram for Isaac, Genesis xxii, 11. Thus Angels ascending and descending on a ladder, as it were bearing up Jacob's prayers through it to heaven, and bringing down gifts from heaven to him on earth, appeared to Jacob; and so they consecrated the place to God, that it was called Bethel, that is the house of God, Genesis xxviii, 12. Thus an Angel appeared to David in the threshing floor of Areuna the Jebusite, thereby designating the place for the temple to be built there by Solomon. Whence David by command of the prophet Gad erected an altar in the same place, and offered holocausts and peace offerings, and thus stayed and restrained the plague of pestilence, II Kings xxiv, 16 et seq. Thus an Angel stood by and appeared to St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, St. Gregory and many others celebrating. Father Louis de Ponte relates in the Life of Father Balthasar Alvarez, cap. vi, that an Angel was accustomed to stand by and appear to him while celebrating, who would direct him, and would reveal and suggest to him the necessities of those for whom he was about to celebrate, that he might commend them to the Lord. For the proper office of Angels is twofold: first, to praise and honor God; but the highest honor of God is sacrifice: therefore Angels cooperate in this. Second, to care for the salvation of men: but this salvation is procured chiefly through sacrifices, by which grace is obtained from God for men. Therefore Angels offer these to God, that they may reconcile and obtain His grace for men. Wherefore a priest while celebrating should remember that an Angel stands by him; and let him venerate and invoke him, that he may direct him, enlighten him, inflame him to sacrifice worthily. To this pertains what we read in the Lives of the Saints, that certain Angels ministered the Holy Eucharist, namely to Mark the monk, as Sozomen testifies, lib. IX, cap. xxix, and Palladius in the Lausiac History, cap. xx, to St. Bonaventure, St. Bertrand, as is found in the Life of St. Elzear, cap. xvii. To Onuphrius also on every Lord's Day an Angel of the Lord divinely brought the Holy Synaxis. Thus it is found in the Lives of the Fathers. That our Blessed Stanislaus Kostka received the Holy Eucharist from the hands of Angels, with St. Barbara assisting, and was thereby visited by the Blessed Virgin, and was miraculously healed from an incurable disease, his Life relates. Let therefore the priest while celebrating, let those assisting and communicating say with David, Psalm cxxxvii, vers. 2: "In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to thee." Hear St. Ephrem, tract. On Virginity, tom. I: "Be," he says, "during the whole time of prayer as it were a heavenly Angel: and so strive that thy prayer may be holy, and pure, and immaculate, and blameless, so that, when the heavenly gates see it ascending on high, they may open rejoicing beyond measure, that the Angels and all the Archangels, plucking it, may joyfully meet it, and may offer it before the holy and exalted throne of the immaculate God. Thus therefore at the hour of prayer always be joined to God as Cherubim and Seraphim." It is remarkable that Damascene, in his oration On those who have fallen asleep in faith, writes that St. Gregory I the Pontiff, "when he was engaged in sacred operations, had a heavenly and divine Angel as a companion of the most holy mystery." Nor is this wonderful; for, as St. Ildefonsus of Toledo says, On Illustrious Men, "St. Gregory shone forth with such sublime perfection of all merits, that, excluding the comparisons of all illustrious men, antiquity showed nothing like unto him. For he surpassed Anthony in holiness, Cyprian in eloquence, Augustine in wisdom." BEFORE THE ALTAR — of incense, upon which incense was burned before God dwelling in the Holy of Holies, to which altar in the Holy Place it was turned and very near, Exodus xxx, 1. By this altar Primasius, Bede, Ansbert and others understand the Church, or the faithful themselves, in whom these incenses, that is prayers, are offered through our Lord Jesus Christ. The golden censer is the humanity of Christ burning with charity, says St. Augustine, serm. 98 On the Seasons; whence this thurification of His, and His intercession, was pleasing and heard by God. This is what is subjoined:
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4. AND THE SMOKE OF THE INCENSE OF THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS ASCENDED UP BEFORE GOD IN THE HAND OF THE ANGEL. — A man therefore excelling in holiness is an altar of incense, because through the contemplation of heavenly things he despises earthly things, and offers to God holy desires and prayers in the altar of his heart: from which it comes to pass that he becomes like a stone and square altar, that is, fixed and immovable amid prosperity and adversity; it has four horns or most beautiful knobs, namely prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance; incense is offered upon it morning and evening at the same time, that is, at the same time when a lamb was offered upon the altar of holocausts, or a perpetual sacrifice, because charity and prayer, or contemplation, ought to be joined with mortification. But in truth, for a response, observe that St. John here throughout alludes to the old tabernacle and temple (for in his time Christians did not yet have temples such as now, but oratories), as is evident from chapter vi, verse 9, and chapter vii, verses 14, 15 and following. For the place of the Blessed in heaven is most excellently represented by the temple, both because the temple was sacred to God and God's throne; and because it was most august, most rich and most beautiful, so that it was the marvel of the world; and because it was the place of priests, who were holy and of Christ God: likewise in heaven the Blessed are priests of God, as I said in chapter v, verse 10. Note first: There were two principal parts of the old temple, namely the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, divided by an intervening veil. In the Holy Place was this altar of incense, placed opposite the Holy of Holies. Note secondly: Allegorically the Holy of Holies signified the empyrean heaven of God and of His glorious divinity, in which God is and appears to the Angels and the Blessed in His glory and blessedness, and as it were in the throne of His majesty. And so the ark made from incorruptible acacia wood signified the body of Christ, no longer corruptible and mortal, but incorruptible and glorious after the resurrection. The mercy seat, which was above the ark of pure gold, signified the throne of divinity, with the humanity of Christ (which the mercy seat represented) as it were sitting upon it and presiding, to which the Cherubim and all the Angels stand round about and minister. Note thirdly: The Holy Place signified the Church of righteous men, which in this life serves God and tends toward God: likewise those things which are in it. And so the altar of incense, which was in the Holy Place, signified the place of prayers, thanksgiving and praise, insofar as they are offered upon Christ, as it were an altar, and through Christ, and His passion and death to God. The table of the loaves of proposition signified both the sacrament of the Eucharist and the works of charity and mercy; the candlestick, the light and splendor of Christian doctrine. Note fourthly: Christ by His passion and death rent the veil intervening between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place, because by His death He opened heaven, that is the Holy of Holies, to men, Hebrews ix, 12. He wishes therefore to say here that St. John, that the souls of the Saints, who in this life as it were spiritual priests dwelt, and served God in the Holy Place, that is in the Church, through prayers and praises, and a pure and pious life, likewise in heaven serve Him in the Holy Place as perpetual and royal priests, and offer to Him perpetual incense of prayers and praises. In the Holy Place, I say, not of the earth, but of heaven, where now through Christ with every veil broken through, this altar of incense (in which the souls of the Saints dwell, as it was said in chapter vi, verse 9, and they serve God day and night, as it was said in chapter vii, verse 15) is joined with the ark, the mercy seat and the Holy of Holies, that is the throne of God: so that in heaven one and the same place is the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies; and the blessed souls from their Holy Place, and their place of happiness, in the heavenly temple continually behold God in the Holy of Holies, or existing in the heaven of His divinity. See what I said on Exodus xxvi, xxvii and xl. The blessed souls therefore are said to be under the altar; because this altar was in the Holy Place, which was properly the place of priests, such as these souls are in heaven; just as the Holy of Holies was properly the place and throne of God alone: whence into it the High Priest alone entered, and that only once a year. But the High Priest represented Christ, not the Saints. Note fifth: That which is said, "That he might offer of the prayers of the Saints," the sense is, that is to say, That into his censer and its fire he might cast incense made from various prayers and desires of the Saints, asking that the kingdom of sin be overthrown and the impious punished; that he might then place it upon the altar of incense itself, and there offer it to God by fumigation and present it. For there was no other incense or perfume here than the prayers of the Saints. Observe: The Greek texts have ταῖς προσευχαῖς; which Beza translated, with prayers, understanding the preposition ἐν. But incorrectly: for nothing other than with prayers, but the bare and sole prayers of the Saints did this Angel offer to God. Wherefore better does Our [translation], and also Erasmus and Vatablus translate, of the prayers of the Saints: for it is a Hebraism. For the Hebrews say העלה מתפלורת, heela mittephillet, that is, he offered of the prayers; for the preposition מין min among the Hebrews is the mark and sign of the ablative, just as among the Latins de. St. John wished to express this same thing in the same Greek case; but because the Greeks do not have a preposition which, signifying of or from, is aptly constructed with the ablative or dative, hence he omitted it, and understood it, and placed only the noun προσευχαῖς, that is, prayers. Moreover, Angels offer to God the prayers of men, whose, as it were, of their own clients, they themselves are guardians, patrons and advocates; not that they might make them known to God, since nothing is hidden from Him, but that they themselves might at the same time beseech God for them, and thus render them efficacious: so that it comes to pass that they obtain the desired effect, and obtain that which they ask. Note sixth: St. John saw in heaven an altar of incense, fumigation, hymns, adoration, the Lamb slain in the manner of a victim and sacrifice, both because the passion of Christ, death and bloody sacrifice is shadowed forth by all these things, and by its virtue and merit remains, and by its aspect continually moves God to have mercy on men; and also because in reality and in act, as far as the victim is concerned, it itself remains in the sacrifice of the Eucharist, in which daily, as St. Andrew used to say, we immolate Christ as it were a Lamb to God, so that after the immolation the Lamb always remains whole and living. Wherefore Christ himself now glorious in the heavens, was seen from time to time on earth to repeat and perform this sacrifice of his. Hear the memorable thing which Nauclerus relates in the year of the Lord 1011: "It is said of Henry that he was always accustomed, after the first night, entering the City, to remain in the church of St. Mary Major: but it happened once that, while he prayed alone, Christ appeared to him clothed in pontifical vestments proceeding to celebrate Mass, whom St. Lawrence followed, and in the place of the subdeacon Vincent: after these the Mother of God the Virgin with a multitude of virgins and Angels; then John the Baptist with the Patriarchs and Prophets: after these Peter and John with the other Apostles and Evangelists, St. Stephen with the Martyrs, St. Martin with the Confessors. The Angels began the Introit: We have received, O God, thy mercy; and when it was sung: Thy right hand is full of justice, all imitating Christ and the Blessed Virgin extended their finger at Henry. After the Gospel with unspeakable joy an Angel presented the book kissed by Christ to the Blessed Mary, and after her to all in order to be kissed. Finally the Blessed Virgin indicated to the Angel that he should offer the book also to Henry to be kissed, saying: Give him the kiss of peace, whose virginity pleases me; and when, overcome by excessive joy, he knew not fully to attend, the Angel touching him on the sinew said: This shall be a sign to thee of the love of God on account of thy chastity and justice, and from that time until death he limped, from which event Henry was called Henry the Lame." A second miracle, nearly twin to this one, befell the blessed Godric, who in the twelfth century after the Virgin's childbirth was a follower of the solitary life in England, a wonderful worker of prodigies, and another Thaumaturgus of those times, uniquely venerated by St. Thomas of Canterbury, to whom he foretold long beforehand both exile, and an honorable restoration after seven years, and finally a glorious death in defense of the Church. Concerning this man, among many other benefits divinely granted, Nicholas Harpsfield, Archdeacon of Canterbury, also recounts this in his account of the English Ecclesiastical History to the twelfth century, cap. XL: "Among other illustrious things, the same Apostle Peter celebrated the mysteries of the sacred Mass according to the custom of the Church with him; and having heard his confession and exomologesis, which Godric performed most carefully concerning all his sins which he could recall to memory, at his command, he granted forgiveness of all offenses, and ministered to him the most holy Eucharist from the altar." Some similar things occurred in this century, and indeed in this very year 1622, in the canonization of our St. Ignatius and Xavier at Douai, which are recounted in a little book published there on this matter. Thus Christ, surrounded by a multitude of Angels, visited St. Dionysius the Areopagite in prison, and offering him the Holy Eucharist, strengthened him for imminent martyrdom. So Hilduin in the Life of St. Dionysius. St. Honoratus also, the fourth Bishop of Amiens, received communion from the hand of Christ, and from that time remained unharmed by all defilement of the flesh, as the Breviary of Amiens has it. The same befell St. Catherine of Siena, as her Life written by Raymond of Capua has it, lib. II, cap. XXXII. Furthermore, that these prayers of the Saints seek vengeance, not pardon, is evident first, because these prayers are immediately followed not by pardon, but by punishments, namely thunders, trumpets and plagues. Second, because in cap. VI, vers. 9, the souls under the altar cried out demanding vengeance: "How long, O Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?" Third, because in cap. IX, vers. 13, this voice proceeds from the horns of the altar: "Loose the four Angels," who being loosed brought grave punishments upon the impious. Fourth, because there is an allusion to Ezech. X, 2, where one Angel commands another to take coals of fire from the altar and pour them upon Jerusalem, that he might lay it waste and burn it through the Chaldeans. For he says: "Fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the Cherubim, and scatter them over the city," etc. See the things said there; for just as there in cap. IX, the servants of God are first marked, lest they be harmed in the destruction of the city: so here in the preceding cap. the servants of God were first marked, lest they be touched by the Angels, the executors of the following plagues. Therefore, just as that fire of Ezekiel was the vengeance and conflagration of Jerusalem, so here the fire will be the vengeance and destruction of the world. Alcazar felt the contrary, namely that these prayers of the Saints sought pardon, not vengeance. For this is the spirit of the Saints of the New Testament, namely to love enemies and pray for them: the Angel therefore sent fire upon the earth not of vengeance, but of charity and religion, of which Christ says in Luke cap. XII, vers. 49: "I am come to cast fire upon the earth"; because although by these their prayers they could not obtain the conversion of the rebellious and unfaithful Jews, nor turn away from them the punishments of the seven trumpets, nevertheless they mitigated the wrath and vengeance of God, and obtained that many of the Jews, namely Paul, Stephen, Ananias, Gamaliel, etc., should be converted to Christ, and that God should confine not a few of the punishments of the seven trumpets to a third part, as is signified in cap. XI, vers. 13, when it is said: "The tenth part fell." For God willed that the patience, charity, prayer and zeal of Christians should reach, as it were, the summit of perfection, before he sent plagues upon the faithless Jews and destroyed them. But these things do not concern the Jews, nor the primitive Church, but the end of the world, when God will rain plagues and every kind of punishment upon the impious, as I have said and taught many times already.
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5. AND THE ANGEL TOOK THE CENSER (after the burning and evaporation of the incense, and thereupon likewise the fire's consumption and incineration), AND FILLED IT WITH FIRE OF THE ALTAR, — namely with fire, which was in other censers by which incense was being offered and burned to God at the same altar. For there was no fire in the altar of incense itself: for the priest about to burn incense would take fire and the censer from the altar of holocausts, and placing incense upon it would carry and place the censer at the altar of incense, and burn it therein, as I said at Exodus cap. XXX, vers. 7 and 8. AND CAST IT UPON THE EARTH, — not the censer, but fire, or coals of the censer: and this for this reason, that by it as it were by a symbol he might signify, that through the prayers of the Saints (for these were the incense of the censer) demanding vengeance upon the impious and their persecutors, and through the charity of Christ, by which he pursues his faithful and saints, the fire of vengeance, that is thunders, lightnings and plagues following the seven Angels and trumpets, upon the impious are sent down. For this fire brings thunders and plagues; therefore it is avenging. But fire is a symbol of charity, just as the altar signifies Christ: for charity zealously guards the honour of God, and therefore is the avenger of God's enemies the impious. Wherefore fittingly Haymo: "The censer," he says, "signifies the body of Christ, which in the passion was opened by many wounds as it were by windows, or like the bars of a censer. And because through Christ's passion charity and the spirit of prayer are given to us, hence fittingly in the censer fire and incense are placed." Again, because Christ shows his wounds to the Father for the Saints labouring on earth, and his charity towards them, and thence the Father is stirred to punishing the impious enemies of the Saints, hence the censer is filled with fire from the altar and cast upon the earth: for charity as it were by fire procured this vengeance; that is, the fire of Christ's charity went forth from God, and sent down upon the earth the fire of vengeance upon the impious, the persecutors and murderers of the pious. Note: All these things were an imaginary vision, exhibited to John to signify those things which I have said. For in heaven there is no altar of incense, nor censer, nor fire. Concerning fire however it is credible, that at the end of the world the Angel will really cast fire upon the earth, as it were a sign and beginning of the plagues following, whence it follows: AND THERE WERE MADE THUNDERS. — All these things are harbingers of great calamities, which God at the end of the world will send upon the impious. Whence then before those he will truly send frequent thunders, lightnings and earthquakes, as Christ foretold at Luke XXI. Thus Ribera and others. Otherwise Alcazar, who for his exposition fittingly and consistently holds that here by thunders, lightnings and earthquakes is signified the admirable preaching of the primitive Church, joined with the splendour of holiness and the efficacy of the word, and a great change of life (for the earthquake represents this) in the souls of those, who subjected themselves to that heavenly preaching.
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6. THEY PREPARED THEMSELVES (taking their trumpets, and bringing them to their mouths), TO SOUND THE TRUMPET.
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7. AND THE FIRST ANGEL SOUNDED THE TRUMPET, AND THERE WAS MADE HAIL, AND FIRE, MIXED IN BLOOD. — Mixta is the neuter plural; whence it refers both to the hail and to the fire, as is evident from the Greek μεμιγμένα. You will ask: Who are these seven Angels, and what are their trumpets and plagues, especially this first one? First, Alcazar, according to what was said at verse 2, understands by this plague a famine sent upon the Jews at the time of the destruction by Titus. For tender crops, fruits and plants are accustomed to be beaten down by hail, and with fire arising, they putrefy in blood; whence famine follows. See Psalm 104:32. Blood denotes the cruelty of the famine, which was so great that a mother cooked and devoured her own son, as Josephus testifies. But these are mystical and enigmatic, and rather accommodative than literal. Second, Lyra and Aureolus understand by these seven Angels four celebrated heresiarchs, and three princes who followed their heresies, and greatly disturbed the Church in the times of Constantine and Julian the Apostate, whom they think is noted by the silence of verse 1. The heresiarchs were Arius, Macedonius, Eutyches and Pelagius, against whom (namely against the first three, not against Pelagius) the first four ecumenical Councils were gathered, namely Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon. The first angel therefore is Arius, whom the Emperor Valens, an Arian, favored and promoted; he sounded the trumpet of his heresy and persecution, and thence there was made hail of animosity and schism among the Bishops, and fire of emulation and zeal, which are mixed with blood, because they raged even unto deaths and martyrdoms against Catholics. Whence a third part of the earth, that is, of the common faithful and simple people, and a third part of the trees, that is, of the Bishops, afflicted by the fire of Arianism, was laid low and burned. Then also the green grass, that is, a new generation coming forth and as it were being born, namely the Goths, asking from the Emperor Valens Christian Bishops who would teach them, baptize them, and make them Christians, submitted by Valens with Arian Bishops, became Arians instead of Catholics. Third, Anshertus, Haymo, Richard, Pannonius and Viegas understand by the seven Angels, or messengers, seven different orders of preachers of the Catholic faith in the Church, who at various times of their preaching sounded the trumpet to the world. But because the Jews and infidel Gentiles resisted them and fought against the Church, hence various plagues were sent upon them and inflicted by God: thence also tumults and seditions arose, which are here signified by earthquakes, as plagues are signified by hail, fire and blood. The first Angel therefore signifies the first order of preachers, namely the Apostles; hail and fire mixed with blood signify the wrath of God upon the infidels and their eternal damnation. Thus Haymo, Ambrose, Ansbertus. For the infidels and impious are here called earth, because they are earthly; and trees, because they are agitated by every wind; and grass, because all the glory of the world vanishes like grass. Again, Pannonius understands by hail and fire with blood the wrath and fury not of God, but of the Gentiles and infidels against the Apostles and the Church: from which a third part of the earth and trees, that is, many faithful both common people and magnates and leaders, fell away from the faith. But I say with Irenaeus, book IV, chapter 50, and Lactantius, book VII, chapter 15, Areta and Ribera that all these things are to be understood literally, as they sound. For these signs and these plagues will literally precede, at least in their beginning, that is, will begin and start to happen before the judgment and before the Antichrist (for they are contained in the seventh seal, whose unsealing and explanation precedes the unsealing and explanation of the sealed book, which contains the future under the Antichrist and thenceforward until the judgment and the end of the world), and this is so that God through these plagues may terrify and punish the impious persecutors of the faithful. And this is what Christ predicted in Luke 21:11: "And there shall be great earthquakes and terrors from heaven and great signs." For those signs which Christ will accomplish in a few and in general, St. John here explains and narrates in particular and in order. And the Sibyl herself predicted these same things, in book II of the Oracles, where she sings thus among other things: "The world will be a world without order, with men perishing," that is, without ornament and appearance, with men perishing, just as plants through hail, fire, blood, etc. And the Wise Man in Wisdom V, 18: "He will arm creation to revenge against the enemies, and the world will fight with him against the unwise." Literally therefore hail and fire are thunderbolts and fiery exhalations, and hailstones. With these will be mixed blood or a rain of blood; for Pliny narrates that this has happened frequently, lib. II, cap. XXVI. Moreover a rain of blood has always been a sign of heavenly wrath, and a forewarning of impending vengeance, as it is here: for a third part of plants and trees is laid low and burned. Again, by blood are punished the murders of the impious, by which they poured out the blood of the pious and Martyrs, as will be evident cap. XVI, vers. 6. He alludes to the seventh plague of Egypt, of which it is said in Exodus IX, 24: "Hail and fire were carried together mingled." See the things said there. In a similar manner the darkness of the fourth plague corresponds to and alludes to the ninth plague of Egypt, which was likewise of the densest darkness. And the fifth plague of locusts cap. IX, vers. 3, corresponds to the eighth plague of Egypt, which was likewise of locusts, Exodus X, 4. And the third plague of bitter and undrinkable waters corresponds to the first plague of Egypt, which was the turning of the waters of Egypt into blood, Exodus VII, 17. For those Egyptian plagues were a type and prelude of these final ones of the whole world, as St. Irenaeus teaches and asserts, lib. IV, cap. L, and Lactantius, lib. VII, cap. XV. AND IT WAS SENT (this whole aggregate, namely hail, fire and blood mixed together among themselves, so that they made as it were one certain composite) INTO THE EARTH. AND THE THIRD PART OF THE EARTH WAS BURNED. — Understand this third part of the earth, trees and plants not conjointly, and at once and continuously in the same place, but mixedly and scatteredly, namely so that some in Spain, some in Italy, some in other places and provinces were burned and laid waste, namely those and in those places in which were the worst inhabitants and the greatest persecutors of the faithful (for these are their plagues, not of the faithful and just): thus indeed so that, all being reckoned which were scatteredly laid waste, a third part of the earth, trees and plants, which will be in the whole world at that time, by this first plague and slaughter is destroyed and burned. Moreover hail struck only a third part, not however the whole and all things, because God did not wish by this first plague to destroy the earth and its human inhabitants, but by it to chastise them, and to admonish them that they repent, and thus escape the remaining plagues already prepared; which if, warned by so great a plague, they are unwilling to come to their senses and repent, He reserves for them six more atrocious plagues, which He will gradually call forth and produce, greater and greater, through six following Angels. AND ALL GREEN GRASS, — all herb, all herbage sprouting and growing green: for this is what the Greek χόρτος signifies, as is evident from Mark IV, 28: "The earth," he says, "brings forth first the herb (in Greek χόρτον), then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." For he alludes to the sixth plague of Egypt, of which it is said in Exodus IX, 25: "And the hail struck all the herb of the field." And vers. 31: "Therefore the flax and the barley were smitten, because the barley was green, etc.; but the wheat and the spelt were not smitten, because they were late." Where note that the slaughter of the Apocalypse will be greater, both because in it wheat or spelt is not excepted, and because in it is added also that a third part of the trees was laid low by this hail. Herb therefore is called grass by metonymy, because by this plague it dried up, and became grass. Just as conversely the rod of Moses turned into a serpent, is nevertheless still called a rod, because it had been a rod, Exodus VII, 12, when it is said: "The rod of Aaron devoured their rods," that is, the serpent of Aaron produced from his rod devoured the serpents of the Magicians, produced from their rods.
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First, Alcazar understands by this plague the war which Titus waged against the Jews, by which he destroyed and consumed them: for blood signifies the slaughter and destruction of the Jews; "the third part of the sea" signifies a great part of the Roman empire to be sprinkled with the blood of the Jews in that war against the Jews, yet in such a way that many of them escaped death by flight. Whence "the third part of the creatures which had life in the sea died," that is, of men sailing, namely Jews, not of fishes. For "to have life in the sea" are said those who sail, because they entrust their life to the sea with great danger, according to that passage in Wisdom XIV, 5: "Men trust their souls to a small piece of wood." For fishes are children of the water. But sailors are children of the earth, who have life in the sea, because they wander through the sea for the sake of gain, which the Jews are most eager for. Therefore sailors are called by catachresis Jews, because they are merchants and traders; consequently when it is said: "And the third part of the ships perished," ships are understood to be the cities and towns of the Jews themselves; for in the war and destruction of Titus easily the third part of the cities of Judaea perished. That a ship is a symbol of a city is evident from Ezekiel XXVII, and from the allegories of the Poets. Second, Aureolus: Here, he says, the second Angel was Macedonius the heresiarch, who taught that the Holy Spirit is a creature and servant of the Son, against whom the second general Council of Constantinople was assembled. Then therefore a great mountain burning with fire, that is, a great and swelling heresy, was cast into the sea, that is, into the Church, which is called a sea on account of the waters of baptism and on account of the multitude of all nations which it contains. This became blood, because it was defiled by Macedonius, and infected with blood, that is, with heresy; and the third part of the fishes, that is, of the faithful, died through the heresy; and the ships perished, because many Bishops who ought to bear others and govern them, and direct them to the faithful station of faith and salvation as if they were ships and shipmen, became Macedonians, and drew their followers with them and sank them in the abyss. To which add, on account of the heresy concerning the Holy Spirit, namely that the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son, but only from the Father, the Greeks divided by schism from the Latins, were punished with fire and blood, especially when Constantinople was taken by force, and when the Eastern Empire was overthrown by Mahomet, king of the Turks, on the very feast of the Holy Spirit, namely at Pentecost in the year of the Lord 1453. Then indeed a great mountain burning with fire, that is, a huge army of Turks burning with fury, was cast into the sea, that is, into Greece and Constantinople adjacent to the sea, namely the Bosphorus; and the blood of the third, that is, the great, part of the inhabitants was poured out, and moreover Constantine Palaeologus, the Emperor, himself born of the mother Helena (as also the first Constantine, the founder of the city and empire), was beheaded, and made an end of the kingdom and life at the same time, and likewise of the Eastern Empire. Third, Viegas and others cited in the first plague, verse 7: The second Angel, they say, is the second order of preachers, in the time of the ten persecutions under ten Emperors in the primitive Church. A great mountain is a proud demon burning with envy, who through tyrants as if a mountain wished to overwhelm the sea, that is, the Church, which then became bloody on account of frequent martyrdoms. Then many fishes, that is, the faithful, indeed even ships, that is, Prelates and great men, who ought to carry others to the port of salvation, through fear made shipwreck of faith. For Prelates are rightly called ships, as well as chariots. Whence that saying of Eliseus to Elias, when he was caught up to heaven: "My father, the chariot of Israel and the charioteer thereof," IV Kings II. Fourth, most plainly and simply Ribera, by the fiery mountain understands a huge globe burning and fiery, which the Angel will cast into the sea, and by it will burn up both ships and fishes, namely the third part of ships and fishes. For not men sailing, but fishes are the creature and animals which have life in the sea; for in Greek it is, καὶ ἀπέθανε τὸ τρίτον τῶν κτισμάτων ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τὰ ἔχοντα ψυχάς, that is, the third part of the creatures in the sea having life died, which properly applies to fishes. And this is what the Sibyl sings: And all the trembling fishes will die in the waters, Nor will the ship laden with weight any longer furrow the waters. Alcazar suggests that this mountain is on earth and earthly, so that it might signify great disturbances of the commonwealth, according to that passage in Psalm XLV, verse 3: "When the earth shall be troubled, and the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea." This mountain therefore, like Etna, set on fire by an angel, will burn and be consumed, and will be cast into the sea, and by its fire and heat will kill the fish, and will turn the waters of the sea into blood, not so much by its natural force, as by the supernatural power and might of God commanding. Yet it seems more true that this mountain is aerial, namely many and great exhalations collected together, which when set on fire will appear to be a fiery mountain, both because it says: "As a great mountain"; for the word "as" suggests that it is not a true mountain, but the likeness of a mountain; and because these plagues are heavenly, and are called forth from heaven by angels, and fall down upon the earth like darts hurled by God from heaven against the wicked. This burning mountain will therefore be a great mass of fatty matter congealed and kindled in the air, which like a burning mountain will fall into the sea: whereby it will come to pass that a third part of the sea will be turned into blood, and a third part of the fish will die, and a third part of the ships will perish. It is likely that this mass will first appear in the sky, and at the beginning of its fall, like a burning mountain united, to the eyes of men; then in its progress will be scattered into various parts, so that it may infect the sea in various places. Similar was the rain of sulphurous fire by which Sodom and the five cities were consumed, Genesis XIX. Wherefore, as that was so, so also this burning mountain will be terrible, and will strike great fear and dread into men, especially when they see and feel its effects, damages and destruction. Now that by this plague a third part of the sea has become blood, this pertains both to the slaughter of fish: for these, outside their own element, namely outside water, cannot live in blood; and to striking horror into the wicked, while they see both the earth by the first plague, and the sea by this second plague made bloody, so that the earth and sea seem to represent the wicked's both guilt, especially murders and the slaughter of Martyrs; and punishment, while their own blood suggests that there will be such a great slaughter of the wicked, that streams of their blood will make the earth and sea bloody, and will turn them at least as to their surface into blood. Thus blood signifies a great slaughter of enemies to be wrought by Christ, Isaiah LXIII, 1, 2 and 3: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra?" And: "Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me: I have trampled on them in my fury, and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment." And Psalm CIX, 7: "He shall drink of the torrent in the way, therefore shall he lift up his head." Psalm LVII, verse 11: "And the just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner." Moreover, blood is the symbol of life and soul. Whence of one gravely wounded and dying the Poet says: "He vomits forth his purple soul," that is, he vomits blood in which as in a vehicle life and soul reside. Indeed, some of the ancient Philosophers, as Aristotle testifies in book I of De Anima, held that blood is the very soul of the animal. Wherefore by the effusion of so much blood, is signified the pouring forth of many souls and lives, and the destruction of many men. This is what Ezekiel says, chapter XXXVIII, verse 22: "I will judge him with pestilence and with blood." Mystically Rupert says: "This mountain," he says, "is Pharao, an exemplar of diabolical pride." For as Pharao, when Moses prayed, was cast into the Red Sea: so when Christ the Lord, the Angel of great counsel, preached in the world, the devil fell from his dominion, hurled down into the abyss of miseries. And with such great speed did he fall and depart, that although by his bulk, or rather by his malice, he was a great mountain, yet by his speed he became a certain slippery and rolling serpent, and by antonomasia would be called a fugitive, according to that: "The Lord will visit upon Leviathan the serpent the bar," Isaiah chapter XXVII, 1. Or, as the Septuagint has it: "Upon Leviathan the serpent fleeing." For that serpent, who first victoriously invaded Adam, is easily vanquished by the second, and like a timid serpent flees away.
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The verse concerning this: "And the third part of the creatures in the sea, which had life, died; and the third part of the ships was destroyed," is treated together with verse eight above. See the explanations given there by Alcazar (concerning the slaughter of the Jews and their cities as it were ships), Aureoli (concerning the heresy of Macedonius and Bishops as ships of the Church), Viegas (concerning the faithful as fish and Prelates as ships), and Ribera (concerning the literal burning of fish and destruction of ships).
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First, Alcazar understands by this third plague a pestilence by which God punished the Jews: for after the famine endured in the siege of Jerusalem, pestilence followed in its usual manner and raged against them, as witness Josephus, book VII of the Wars, chapter XVII, and Eusebius, book II, chapter VI, and book III, chapter III. It is a catachresis: for by bitter waters is signified pestilence, as if the waters were thoroughly imbued with poison. Moreover, the "great star fell from heaven" does not signify a star truly and properly fallen from heaven, but its influence or influx, by which it created the pestilence. Second, Aureolus and Lyra: A falling star from heaven, they say, is Pelagius the monk and heresiarch, who made the waters of grace and baptism bitter. For he taught that without grace, by the forces of nature alone, we are able to live rightly and be saved. Again, the waters of baptism do not profit infants, as being born without original sin (for he himself denied this, asserting that man is born in pure natural state): and therefore to many who believed him these waters became insipid, bitter, indeed deadly. But this is less correct: for by the fourth Angel who follows, they themselves understand Eutyches, who was prior and more ancient than Pelagius. Third, Viegas: "The third," he says, "Angel is the third order of preachers, against whom Arius and heretics resisted, just as emperors and tyrants resisted the second Angel. The great and burning star are the heresiarchs themselves. These therefore are wormwood, because most bitter and deadly: for they kill souls. This star fell into the fountains, that is, into Holy Scripture; and into the rivers, that is, into the writings and books of the Holy Fathers: for heretics corrupt these, either by corrupting them, or by twisting and perversely explaining them. But just as wormwood, although bitter, sharpens the eyes, so heretics increased the study and knowledge of the Church, says Arethas." Fourth and properly, this star will be not a celestial one, but an aerial one, namely a comet, a falling star; or a similar meteor, which will fall from heaven, and by its fall bursting apart, will be broken into many sparks or exhalations, which falling into various fountains and rivers, will infect them. It is called wormwood, because it will make the waters bitter, and this as a punishment for the wicked debauchery, and especially the gluttony and drunkenness of the impious, so that those who have drunk the sweetest and most savory wines, and have gorged their bellies with them, may now drink wormwood, and be tormented and destroyed by it. 10. A GREAT STAR FELL FROM HEAVEN. — Physicians teach that the body and life of man depend upon the influence of air and heaven, and therefore pestilence arises sometimes from contagion, sometimes from the influence of heaven and the stars, sometimes from infected air; indeed, they call unexpected and unknown diseases and deaths siderations.
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11. AND THE NAME OF THE STAR IS CALLED WORMWOOD. — Thus also the Syriac; but the Arabic translates: And the name of the star is called absenymum; and the third part of the waters became bitter as wormwood. It appears therefore that absenymum has crept in through the carelessness of the scribe in place of wormwood. For both the Syriac, equally as the Greek and Latin, has: And the name of the star is called "that wormwood," by antonomasia, as it were the supreme and most bitter. In Greek ἀψίντος in the abstract, as if to say, The very bitterness of wormwood itself, the very bitterness itself. The exceptional bitterness of the herb which is called wormwood is well known, concerning which Pliny, lib. XXVII, cap. VII, and Dioscorides, lib. III, cap. XXV, and Ovid, lib. III De Ponto: Sad wormwoods bring forth deformed fields, And the earth teaches from its fruit how bitter it is. Wherefore it is called ἀψίντος, from ἀψεσθαι, that is to touch, by antiphrasis, because no animal touches this herb on account of its extreme bitterness. The ancient Greek comic writers called it by a related word Apinthion, that is undrinkable, because no one on account of its remarkable bitterness could drink it down. To this is alluded in these waters, which on account of wormwood have become apinthion, that is undrinkable. Again, just as wormwood sharpened the eyes of the body, so this wormwood of the waters will open the eyes of the heart to men at the end of the world unto repentance, says Arethas. Thus the place in which St. Bernard first built a monastery of his Order was called the Valley of Wormwood, both on account of the abundance of wormwood growing in it, and on account of the bitterness of those who fell there slain by robbers; for it was a valley of robbers. But St. Bernard changed the Valley of Wormwood into Clairvaux both in name and in reality. AND MANY MEN DIED. — Hence it is clear that this bitterness was excessive, and therefore poisonous and deadly; otherwise moderate bitterness is healthful, and preserves the body from putrefaction, as is evident in absinthite, that is, in beer or wine made with wormwood. The saying of the Italians is: "May bitter wine be dear to you." Finally, the axiom of physicians is: "All sweet things are enemies to the stomach; bitter things therefore are friends." This bitterness therefore will be extreme, and therefore poisoned, such as is in colocynth, concerning which that disciple of Elisha rightly said: "Death in the pot." So also the herb which is called wormwood is of such bitterness that, if it is distilled, or taken in a large quantity, it is like poison. And so these waters affected and infected with extreme bitterness by the star at the end of the world will be deadly, so that very many of those drinking from them (for the drinking of water cannot be avoided) will die. For, as Galen teaches, lib. I Epidem., comment. 1, in the proem: "A draught of infected water can sometimes cause a universal disease, which indeed is recorded in memory to have happened in camps." For poisoned water if drunk, because it is liquid and penetrating, immediately passes to the liver and heart, which are vital parts, and infects and kills them by its excessive heat, or cold, or other imbalance. Wherefore Aristotle, lib. VII Polit., cap. XI, so that some city may be established in a convenient and healthy place, says first, the situation must be considered. "For cities facing toward the rising sun, and toward those winds which blow from there, are more healthful; in the second place, those which are situated according to the North: for these are better for winter." And below: "Second is the use of healthful waters; for those which we use most and most frequently for the body, these contribute most to health: but the power of waters and winds has such a nature. Wherefore in cities which are rightly wise, the use of waters must be distinguished, if not all are equal, nor is there an abundance of those waters, so that some waters separately are appointed for food and drink, others for another need." Such indeed is the power of water, equally as of air constantly surrounding the body, nay even in the innermost parts either by drinking or by breathing drawn in, and penetrating and pervading, as Cicero teaches, lib. De Fato, where among other things he says: "At Athens the air is thin, from which even the Athenians are thought to be more acute; at Thebes it is thick, and so the Thebans are fat and strong."
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First, Alcazar understands by this plague of the darkening of the stars the ignorance and blindness with which God struck the Jews, because they were unwilling to see and receive the light of the world, namely Christ. Being blinded, therefore, they did not see the sun, that is, they did not acknowledge God three and one; nor the moon, that is, the humanity of Christ; nor the stars, that is, the Apostles and their evangelical doctrine and holiness. Moreover, a third part of the stars is said to be darkened, because they were not completely blind. For there remained in them knowledge of the one God, of Moses and the Prophets; indeed they even saw the miracles of Christ and the Apostles; but this light and knowledge resulted in graver sin for them, and greater blindness and damnation. For from these things they were able and ought to have recognized Christ and the way of salvation. This is what Christ says of them, John IX, 41: "If you were blind, you would not have sin." Again, knowledge of God is acquired in three ways: first, through His admirable works, which are done through His power, which is attributed to the Father; second, through doctrine, which is attributed to the Son; third, through internal illumination, which is attributed to the Holy Spirit: the Jews had the first two, but the third was lacking to them, and therefore a third part of the sun and stars is said to be darkened for them. Second, Aureolus and Lyra understand by this Angel Eutyches and Nestorius, the heresiarchs. For the former posited in Christ only one nature, compounded from divinity and humanity: the latter posited in Him two persons, whence he denied that Christ as man is God, and that the Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God. By these through heresy a third part of the sun was struck, that is, the excellence and dignity of Christ: they were injurious to His person or nature; and of the moon, that is, the Church; and of the stars, that is, the Bishops, whom they infected with their heresy, among whom was Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria. Third, Viegas understands by this fourth Angel the fourth order of preachers, who sounded the trumpet of the word of God against the enemies of the fourth Church, namely hypocrites. For hypocrites, transforming themselves into angels of light, secretly scattered new and false dogmas, as if they were oracles of God. From which a third part of the sun, moon and stars, that is, of the faithful both noble and ignoble, was darkened. Fourth, most plainly Ribera understands these things literally, as they sound; for truly at the end of the world the sun, moon and stars will be darkened, as we have heard in chapter VI, verse 12. So that a third part of the day does not shine from them, that is, so that the day, equally as the night, becomes darker by a third part than usual; not, however, that in a third part of time, namely of day and night, the sun, moon and stars will be completely darkened, and in only two remaining parts of time will shine, as some imagine. It alludes to the ninth plague of Egypt, which was of the densest darkness, of which it is said in Exodus X, 22: "And there came a darkness, horrible and thick, over all the land of Egypt for three days. No man saw his brother, nor moved himself from the place where he was." And Wisdom XVII, 2: "Bound with chains of darkness and a long night. And indeed no power of fire could give them light, nor could the bright flames of the stars illuminate that horrible night." See the things said there.
8:13
13. AND I SAW (an eagle which follows) AND I HEARD. — The Syrian version adds something: "And I saw," it says, "and I heard one eagle flying in the midst of heaven, having blood in its tail, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell upon the earth!" First, Alcazar thinks this eagle is the doctrine of Evangelical wisdom (for the eagle is its symbol): it flies through the midst of heaven, that is, of the Church; it cries out woe three times to the Jews, so as to signify the three following plagues of three Angels, namely lusts, angers and hardening, to be inflicted upon the Jews, which will be greater and more terrible than the four already recounted, namely famine, war, pestilence and ignorance. Second, Lyra, Aureolus and Viegas think this eagle was St. John himself. For God could fittingly and appropriately show an imaginary eagle to St. John in a vision, crying out with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe, so that through it He might signify that John himself would yet behold three more prodigious plagues, and would announce them to the world, and would describe them in this book. Third, Abbot Joachim understands by this eagle St. Gregory the Great, the Pontiff, who flourished in the year of the Lord 590, and composed many moral works for the correction of the people of God, in which he often exclaims that woes are at hand, that is, bitter times, and the terrible ravages of the Lombards, and therefore that the end of the world is drawing near. Fourth and genuinely, Bede, Aretas and Ticonius understand by the eagle, or, as many Greek manuscripts have it, an Angel, preachers, who at the end of the world, the plagues impending upon it, and the outstretched hand of the avenging God, and the drawn sword, will announce. Wherefore most aptly Ribera understands by this eagle some holy and heavenly Prophet, whom God will raise up at the end of the world, so that he might foretell to men existing throughout the whole world the following three plagues, and that the coming of Antichrist is at hand. Whence he will fly through the midst of heaven, that is, will run most swiftly through the midst of the earth, so as to preach that graver punishments are at hand for the impious, unless they change their life and morals. He cries out three times "woe," so as to indicate that three most grave plagues of three Angels will immediately follow, and will press upon the impious. Finally, if anyone understands by the eagle an Angel, who, having assumed the form of an eagle, will fly through the world, and will proclaim these things everywhere, I will not object. Tropologically, such an eagle was St. Paul, says St. Gregory in that passage of St. Job, chapter XXXIX, verse 27: "Will the eagle be raised at thy command, and shall she make her nest on high?" Concerning these also Isaiah says, chapter XL, verse 31: "They that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles." See the sayings there, to which add: First, eagles despise the noisy chattering of crows. For crows irritate eagles, but eagles, despising them, fly upward, says Aelian, book V, chapter XXII. Thus doctors illustrious in virtue despise rivals and the envious, and the more they are provoked by them, the higher they soar, and, flying above the noisy little crows, they laugh, saying: "Let them follow by virtue alone." Second, the gall of an eagle tempered with Attic honey, smeared upon dimming eyes, makes the sight most acute, says Aelian, book I On Animals, chapter XLII. Thus the correction of the wise, seasoned with sweetness, teaches the voluptuous to be wise, and brings them back to frugality. "Soft force lies hidden in command," says Ausonius to Theodosius. Third, a certain eagle in the North exposes its eggs in a fox skin to the sun, warms and broods over them, says Albertus Magnus: thus the wise one adds cunning to strength. Fourth, an eagle growing old renews itself with its feathers: thus the wise say and teach that word of the Psalmist: "My youth shall be renewed like the eagle's." Fifth, the Author of the Geoponics, book I, writes that to avert the danger of hail, the chalazites stone is of great value, or the right wing of an eagle fixed in the middle of a field: thus the wise preachers of God by their sermons and prayers avert the storms of God's wrath. Sixth, at the funerals of Emperors a great pyre was made, on the top of which an eagle sat, which, while everything below was burning, flew up to heaven, so that it seemed to carry the soul of the Emperor to heaven, says Herodian in his account of Severus, and Xiphilinus in his account of Augustus. Thus the world like a pyre will burn: the wise alone like eagles at the apex mock the flames, and soar to heaven. Thus Maximilian II, the Emperor, had for his emblem an eagle flying in the clouds. Seventh, although eagles feed on beasts they have caught, yet one which is called the eagle of Jupiter feeds on herbs alone, says Aelian, book IX, chapter X. Thus doctors devoted to religion consecrated to God practice abstinence, so that they may contemplate heavenly things more purely. "For abstinence is the property of purer minds," says Isidore of Pelusium, epistle 52. Eighth, Pythagoras used to say that he had caught a white eagle flying to him in his bosom, from which he asserted that he had become a divine man, and had known many things beyond the grasp of mortals, as Aelianus says, lib. IV, cap. XVII. Such are and will be at the end of the world those who will receive the voices of eagles, that is, of heavenly teachers. Ninth, an eagle flying up unexpectedly sometimes snatched away those destined for the sword and death, as Tilgamus, who was afterwards made king of Babylon. Thus also Achemenes the Persian, from whom the noble stock of the Achaemenids descended, was a foster-child of an eagle, as Aelianus says, lib. XII De Animal., cap. XXI. Thus also an eagle snatched away Valeria Luperca, who was to be sacrificed to Juno to avert a plague, and drove the sacrificial knife into a heifer grazing near the temple, as Aristides says, lib. IX Ital. Thus heavenly men and preachers, converting sinners, free them from death and hell, and are to them as it were a god from the machine, as is commonly said. Note here the clemency of God, by which, although gravely offended by men and angry and indignant with them, He nevertheless sends Prophets, who may lead them to the recognition of their sins and to penance, lest He be forced to punish them. WOE TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH! — Woe to the men who dwell on the earth! Mystically, woe to the earthly and worldly, who dwell in the earth in heart and affection, nay, are wholly fixed to it! "For the holy man is not a dweller on the earth, but a stranger and a pilgrim, and he says: I am a stranger and a pilgrim as all my fathers were. Wherefore also Abraham the Hebrew, that is, a wanderer, is remembered as a pilgrim and a transient," says St. Jerome in Ezechiel. VII. And St. Ambrose, lib. II De Abraham, cap. VII, citing this passage: "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth!" and explaining it, adds: "It does not indeed comprehend all men who will then complete the course of this life (for there are also those placed on the earth whose conversation is in heaven), but those whom the affection of earthly conversation and the grace of this world has overcome. Therefore we are not inhabitants, but sojourners of this earth. For a sojourner of a temporal lodging has hope: but an inhabitant seems to place all his hope and the use of his substance there, where he thinks he will dwell. And so he who is a sojourner of the earth is an inhabitant of heaven; but he who is an inhabitant of the earth is a possessor of death."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
8:2
… 53; Lk. 22, 43), in his triumph of the resurrection and ascension (Mk. 16, 5; Lk. 24, 23; Jn. 20, 12; Acts 1, 10), in the future judgment (Mt. 13, 39, 41, 49; 16, 27; 24, 31; 25, 31; Mk. 8, 38), in the definitive triumph of heavenly glory (Rev. 1, 11; 8, 2 ff.). - 2) The a. are subject to the Son. In the Epistles, especially in those of Paul, against the danger of certain gnostic-Judaic tendencies that exaggerated the importance and the …
… B. Allo refers Apoc. 1:4 and 4:5 to the Holy Spirit "sevenfold"; but J. Michl demonstrates that these (as also Apoc. 3:1; 5:6; 8:2; 15:1) are seven angelic princes.
"one of the seven angels who stand before God and have access to the majesty of the Lord" in Tob. 12:15 (cf. Rev. 8:2). Only in non-biblical texts is R. called "archangel," a name reserved in the Bible for St. Michael.
8:3
… Christian era there is mention, in a chronological specification, of the "hour of incense" (Lk. 1, 10). The fragrance of incense suggests graceful images to the Song of Songs (4, 6, 14); its column of smoke rises pleasing to God like prayer (cf. Ps. 140, 2; Apoc. 8, 3, 4). The Bible alludes to its high cost, since it was a product imported from Sheba (Jer. 6, 20) and from other localities of southern Arabia (Is. 68, 6). The same provenance is indicated …
… by angels (Zach. 1:12; Job 5:1; 33:23 ff.) and by saints (II Mach. 15:11-16) and shows us how they take an interest in the destinies of the Kingdom of God on earth (Apoc. passim, e.g., 6:10) and offer the prayers of men to God (Tob. 12:12; Apoc. 5:8; 8:3). The matter is then perfectly logical in the whole of the Christian Revelation, according to which the blessed know our prayers and our needs; a fact of which in the Church, apart …
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.