Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The elect are sealed by an angel, that they may not be touched by the plagues of the wicked, namely twelve thousand from each of the tribes of Israel. Then, in verse 9, John sees an innumerable multitude from the Gentiles standing before the throne of God with white robes and palms, giving thanks and praising God and the Lamb.
Vulgate Text: Apocalypse 7:1-17
1 After these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying: Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads. 4 And I heard the number of them that were signed, an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel. 5 Of the tribe of Juda, were twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand signed: 6 Of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Manasses, twelve thousand signed: 7 Of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand signed: 8 Of the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand signed: of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand signed. 9 After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the ancients, and the four living creatures; and they fell down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God, 12 Saying: Amen. Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen. 13 And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they? 14 And I said to him: My Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me: These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he, that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell over them. 16 They shall no more hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Introduction: This Chapter's Relation to the Sixth Seal
This chapter pertains to the sixth seal, and is the second part of it. For after this chapter, immediately at the beginning of the following chapter VIII, the seventh seal is appended and unsealed. Therefore this chapter is part of the sixth seal, yet so that it is at the same time as a preamble and preparation for the following chapter, and for the seventh seal. For since in the preceding chapter VI, in the first part of the sixth seal, He had said that there would be dreadful signs in the earth, sun, moon, stars, and sky, which portend and threaten extreme punishments to the world, that is, to the wicked, which are then displayed in the seventh seal through the trumpets and plagues of the seven angels: hence, lest these plagues and punishments should involve and afflict the pious and holy faithful together with the wicked, the pious and holy are sealed in this chapter, so that the angels who are about to send the plagues into the world and against the wicked may take care not to touch these sealed ones, or afflict them with their plagues. For just as God in Exodus XII, 7, when about to strike down the firstborn of the Egyptians through an angel, first commanded the houses of the Hebrews to be marked, so that the smiting angel might pass over them and not touch them; and again as in Ezekiel IX, 4, God when about to strike Jerusalem and the wicked Jews, first commands the saints to be marked in it, lest they perish together with the wicked: so likewise He will command at the end of the world that the Saints be sealed, lest they be involved in the common plagues of the world. Hence in chapter IX, verse 4, it is said: "It was commanded the locusts that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, but only the men who have not the sign of God in their foreheads."
You will say: These sealed ones in verse 9 are said to have white robes and palms, and to be before the throne of God: therefore they are blessed in heaven, and not still militant on earth. I reply that St. John saw them in heaven through a vision, because they were sealed and enrolled as citizens in heaven: in reality, however, they were still alive and militant on earth, as is plain from what has been said. For those whom John saw through the prophetic spirit in heaven were destined for that place by God's predestination and foreknowledge: and so he narrates their future glory as though present, just as the Prophets speak of future things as though present or past, to signify that they will most certainly come to pass, as though they were already done. Furthermore, these sealed ones from among the Jews will be the faithful converted from among the Jews to Christ, partly before Antichrist, but chiefly and for the most part after Antichrist: for after he is slain, all Israel shall be converted to Christ, as I shall say below.
Wherefore the opinions of others are less fitting and less probable, which I shall here review, in order to satisfy the reader fully and plainly.
First, then, Ambrose, just as by the first part of the sixth seal — recounted at the end of chapter VI — understood the rejection of the Jews: so here by the second part of the same seal he understands the calling, election, and glorification of all the Gentiles, both on earth and in heaven.
Secondly, Lyranus, Aureolus, and Viegas, just as they referred the first part to the persecution of Diocletian, so refer this part to the peace of the Church which soon followed under Constantine, after the four angels — that is, the four tyrants — were defeated; and so here are described Constantine's wars and victories against them.
Thirdly, Primasius, Haymo, and Ansbertus refer this to the time which preceded Christ.
Fourthly, more probably, Andreas, Bede, Ribera, and Pererius say: Just as in the first part of the sixth seal John, or rather Christ, unsealed the dread times of Antichrist and the punishments of the world: so here he subjoins the joy and felicity of the Church, soon to follow after Antichrist, when innumerable persons from among the Jews and Gentiles shall be chosen for grace and glory. But, as Alcazar rightly objects, they do not preserve the proper sequence — that is, the due order and progression of the Apocalypse. For they wrongly place these things among the seals, since they themselves hold that all the seals contain things which will be preambles to Antichrist, not subsequent to him. Again, by a perverse order, they place these things, which are to come after Antichrist, at the end of the sixth seal, before the seventh, which contains the plagues that precede Antichrist. Thirdly, this sealing of the sealed will not happen directly and properly for glory, but for this purpose, that the angels should not strike them with their plagues. This explanation, however, when conveniently expounded, can be reconciled with ours and adapted to it.
Fifthly, Alcazar thinks that this sealing of the Saints does not pertain to the sixth seal, but is the preamble to the seventh seal. For since he himself holds that the felicity of the Jews believing in Christ is described in the first four seals, and the misfortune and plagues of the unbelievers and rebels (and especially their destruction through Titus) in the last three: hence he holds that those who are sealed here are the Christians who were intermixed with the Jews in Jerusalem, that they might depart from it and so escape its plagues, which are to be unsealed in the seventh seal. So it happened: for at God's warning they themselves escaped to the city of Pella, says Eusebius, book III of the History, chapter V. Wherefore fittingly, by God's nod (says Alcazar), this city, either before or afterwards, was called by the Christians Pella, that is, a wonderful separation, because God by His wonderful providence preserved them there and separated them from the Jews who were perishing in Jerusalem; just as of old He separated the land of Goshen from the rest of Egypt, when He preserved it untouched and immune from the flies, hail, darkness, and other plagues of Egypt. For Pella in Hebrew is derived from the root פלא pala, that is, separated, or made wonderful. Hence in Exodus chapter VIII, verse 22, where we read: "I will make the land of Goshen wonderful," for "I will make wonderful" the Hebrew has הפליתי hiphleti, from the root pala, as if to say: I will make it Pella, I will divide it from Egypt, and make it wonderful. Likewise Exodus IX, 4: "The Lord will do a wonder," in Hebrew הפלא hiphla, that is, He will make pele, He will work a wonder, and will separate Goshen from the rest of Egypt.
But all these things, since his foundation is overturned (about which we have often spoken above), collapse, and are merely ingenious allusions and a play of wit.
Verse 1: The Four Angels Holding the Four Winds
1. AFTER THESE THINGS, I SAW FOUR ANGELS STANDING ON THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH, HOLDING THE FOUR WINDS OF THE EARTH, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BLOW UPON THE EARTH, NOR UPON THE SEA, NOR ON ANY TREE. — There are four primary winds, blowing from the four parts of the world, namely Aquilo from the North, Auster from the South, Eurus from the East, and Zephyrus or Favonius from the West. And the ancients named only these four, as Pliny attests in book II, chapter XLVII. But in later ages sailors subdivided these four into many others, and added to each two, or even four lateral winds.
You will ask: Who are these four angels and four winds? Ambrose first answers that the four angels are the Roman Empire, ruling over the four winds, that is, the four quarters of the world. So too Primasius, Ansbertus, Anselm, and Bede take the four angels to be the four chief kingdoms of the world which, when Christ came into the world, were holding back the winds, that is, the peace, joy, riches, and conveniences of the world, because they vexed mankind with their plunderings and slaughters.
Secondly, Aureolus and Lyranus say: The four angels were the four tyrants in the time of Constantine, namely Maximinus in the East, Severus in Italy, Licinius in Egypt, and Maxentius at Rome, who held back the winds, that is, the teachers, lest they should spread the faith of Christ. So nearly also Ambrose, Primasius, Bede, Anselm, Richard, Ansbertus, Rupert, Hugo, Dionysius, Pannonius, and Viegas.
Thirdly and better, Andreas of Caesarea, Ribera, and Pererius properly take the angels to be those who, as ministers of God's justice at the end of the world, will afflict the wicked: just as by earthquake, by the darkening of the sun and stars, so also by the restraining of the winds, and an utter dead-calm, so that not even the leaf of a tree is stirred. Which is a vast plague: for through it there must follow, first, that the sea cannot be sailed; secondly, that fruits cannot reach their timely ripeness; thirdly, that the air, thick and infected, cannot be purified or thinned, but must corrupt and putrefy; and consequently fourthly, that all things which live on earth must waste away, fail, and die. For the winds with their breath foster all living things, as Seneca beautifully teaches in book V of the Natural Questions, chapter XVIII. Hence in verse 3 John explains the same thing, saying: "Hurt not the earth nor the sea," namely by holding the winds, lest they blow on the earth.
Fourthly and best, Alcazar thinks that these Angels were as it were four Aeoli, lords of the winds, who restrain them — raging, as it were — with bonds and a prison (as Virgil says), lest they blow and rage upon the earth. Hence these angels are called in Greek κρατούντας, that is, holding and compressing the winds, like one who holds and compresses a rabid mastiff, lest when let loose he rush upon those who meet him; just as Virgil calls Aeolus "the master of tempests." And so these angels were harming the earth not by holding back, but by loosing the winds: for these, when loosed, raging with violent force and insane howling, were stirring up the most savage tempest. This is proved first, because the fact that these angels are said here to have been holding the winds lest they blow was told and commanded to them before the servants of God were sealed; therefore this very thing was not the plague, but rather the restraint of the plague: for soon the angel commands them to inflict no plague upon the earth until the servants of God are sealed; therefore the holding back of the winds preceded the plague, and consequently was not the plague itself. Secondly, although a calm and compression of the winds may do some harm, yet it is slow, mild, and languid: but much more vehemently and horribly do the winds inflict damage, and that suddenly, if all the reins are loosed for them, so that they level trees, houses, temples, towers, and palaces; such a storm we saw in Belgium a few years ago on the second day of Easter. For so Daniel says, chapter VII, verse 2: "Behold, the four winds of heaven fought in the sea." Thirdly, the compression of the winds was harming the sealed equally with the unsealed; therefore in vain is it said to them: "Hurt not the earth and the sea, etc., until we seal the servants of our God." It is otherwise in the loosing of the winds: for in this they are commanded to loose and moderate them in such a way that they stir up storms which strike the wicked, but do not touch the pious and the sealed. The sense, therefore, is, as if to say: You, O four angels, who preside over the four winds, and are ready to let them loose to stir up tempests by which the most wicked men of this age, at the end of the ages, may be punished, hold them back until we seal the servants of our God; so that, when soon you are about to loose them, you may loose and direct them in such a way that they strike only the wicked and their houses, gardens, and trees, but spare the sealed.
Note here that, since the four winds proceed from the four parts of the world, four angels preside over them, namely each over one; therefore one presides over the Eastern wind, a second over the Western, a third over the Northern, a fourth over the Southern. We therefore learn here that the winds and their motions and circuits are stirred up, driven, and directed not so much by vapor, or some other natural cause (which it is difficult to render or to grasp by the mind: wherefore Aristotle and all the Physicists labor in it), as by the angels. For God rules and moderates the world through angels, just as a master rules and moderates his horses and chariot through a charioteer.
Furthermore, that these winds, storms, and tempests are rightly placed in the sixth seal and joined with the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, is plain from the fact that Christ joins all these together in Luke XXI, 25, saying: "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves;" for this roaring and these waves the winds will stir up. Wherefore Alcazar wrongly refers these winds to the seventh seal, and thinks they are one and the same with it: for he holds that the seven plagues contained in the seventh seal are nothing other than the division of these winds — or of the tempest stirred up by them — into seven storms or clouds: for these clouds will be stirred up by the four contrary winds clashing with one another. But that these winds are another and different plague from those seven plagues of the seventh seal is plain both from what has been said and from the seven plagues themselves, as is evident to anyone looking at chapter VIII; for, for example, by the force of the winds the fourth plague could not be stirred up, which is described there in verse 12, namely the striking of the sun, moon, and stars: nor the fifth, which is described in chapter IX, verse 1, namely the opening of the abyss: nor the sixth, verse 14, namely the loosing of the four angels who are bound at the Euphrates. As for the fact that Alcazar interprets these plagues as ignorance, concupiscence, and wrath inflicted on the Jews by God, this is plainly mystical, not literal.
You will ask whether these four angels are good, or evil — that is, demons. Our Martinus Delrio, in book II On Magic, Question XI, holds that they are Alastor-spirits, that is, fierce and cruel demons; and he cites in favor of this opinion Clement of Rome, book IV of the Recognitions; Jerome, book VII on Isaiah; Augustine, book V Against Julian, chapter III, and others. The reason is that they harm: therefore they seem to be evil. But this reason does not conclude: for the good angels also did harm when they burned Sodom as avengers of God, Genesis XIX. Again, through the same many other plagues will be sent upon the world at the end of the world, as will be plain in chapter VIII and following. Add that, when angels are evil, Scripture is wont to add to them some alienating epithet, or to indicate sufficiently from the circumstances that it does not understand good ones but evil. Finally, these angels are the proper and direct executors of divine providence, and stand in its place as governors of the winds, that they may moderate and direct them, especially for the punishment of the wicked and for the protection of the pious: therefore they are good, not evil. This is confirmed because, in Ezekiel I, God, borne in the Cherubic chariot, surrounded by four Cherubim (who certainly were good, not evil), proceeds to destroy Jerusalem: therefore in like manner He will accomplish through good angels the final plagues by which He will bring about the destruction of the world. So Alcazar, Ribera, Pererius, and others.
"That they should not blow" — until, the will of God being known, the angels should loose them to blow; but this they here learned through another angel saying: "Hurt not (by loosing the winds) the earth and the sea, until we seal the servants of our God." Hence it is clear that, after the servants of God were sealed, the angels really did loose the winds, and through them inflicted grievous storms and disasters on the wicked: although the actual occurrence of this is not narrated in what follows.
Where note morally, that God through the angels so moderates the force and strokes of lightnings, thunders, winds, hails, and other storms, that they touch this man, not that; this field, not that; this city or region, not that; chiefly so as to afflict the wicked and their fields and goods, not the pious, as we see commanded and done here. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm CXLVIII, 8: "Fire, hail, snow, ice, and stormy winds, which fulfil His word." Wherefore when it thunders, lightens, hails, etc., let the wicked be afraid, and through contrition, or even confession, reconcile themselves to God, lest they be touched by these His plagues.
When therefore He says, "That they should not blow," He understands a blowing not common and ordinary, but most violent and vehement, so that the winds may seem to rage and stir up the fiercest storms and tempests, by which they may inflict the most grievous disasters and damages on the wicked, both at sea and on land. For such will be the winds at the end of the world.
Verse 2: Another Angel Ascending from the Rising of the Sun
2. AND I SAW ANOTHER ANGEL ASCENDING FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN, HAVING THE SIGN OF THE LIVING GOD. — Who is this? First, Ambrose holds that this angel is Christ, because by Isaiah, chapter IX, according to the Septuagint, He is called "the Angel of great counsel," and by Zechariah, chapter VI, verse 12, "the Man, the Branch." The cry of this angel signifies the efficacy of Christ, by which He brought it about that at His nativity, wars being removed, there should be peace everywhere, so that by this means He might more swiftly spread His Gospel through all nations. To this is referred the exposition of Ansbertus, Primasius, Haymo, Anselm, Richard, and Bede, who hold that this angel is Christ, who ascends from the rising of the sun, because He rose in the morning and immediately sent the Apostles to illuminate the world. By His cry He restrains the demons, lest they hinder the preaching of the Gospel.
Secondly, Alcazar holds that this angel is the Holy Spirit, who seals the faithful with Himself and with His grace, and renders them free and unharmed from every plague; or rather that this angel is the very grace of the Holy Spirit: for this formally seals the faithful and the holy.
Thirdly, Aureolus and Lyranus understand by this angel Constantine the Great, who routed the four tyrants already mentioned, who were hindering the preaching of the Gospel: from which followed a great peace, joy, and propagation of the Church. He has the sign of the living God, that is, the sign of the cross, which was given to him from heaven as he was about to fight against Maxentius, as it were an omen of victory, with this inscription: In this sign thou shalt conquer. Whence then many were baptized, and in baptism were signed with the sign of the cross by the priests.
Fourthly, Victorinus and Gagneius understand by this angel Elijah, who, when Antichrist is raging, will oppose himself to him and to his angels, that is, ministers, and will convert many to Christ, and will sign and mark them with the cross of Christ. This opinion is in appearance plausible.
Fifthly, St. Bonaventure, in the prologue to the Life of St. Francis, asserts that this angel is St. Francis and his followers, the Franciscans. For St. Francis bore the sign of the living God, namely of the cross, when he felt the sacred stigmata of Christ crucified imprinted on his body from heaven. The Franciscans display the same — namely the sign of the penitential cross, and a habit conformed to the cross, that they may rouse all to penance and to the embrace of the cross. St. Bernardinus writes that this very thing was certainly revealed to St. Bonaventure, in volume II, sermon 60, at the beginning. The same says Leo X, the Pope, and others, whose words and opinions Sedulius cites in his eulogies of St. Francis, and Antonius Daza in his book On the Stigmata.
Sixthly and best, Ribera and Pererius hold that this was a true angel. He is said to have ascended, because he had previously descended from heaven and was on earth, in order to care for and protect the salvation of men. Again, because he seemed as it were to rise with the sun, and to ascend into the horizon in which St. John was: wherefore he is said to have ascended "from the rising of the sun," both because he had come to announce glad and prosperous things, and because he was bringing new joy and as it were light. For to be born from the East is the same as to rise as a new sun, for the enlightening of those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. As is said of the Jews freed from Haman and from death, that "a new light was seen to arise upon them," Esther VIII, 16. And Malachi, chapter IV, verse 2, says: "Unto you that fear my name the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings." This angel has a "sign," in Greek σφραγίδα, that is, a seal, which he is to imprint on the foreheads of the elect, "of the living God," who, namely, will preserve and quicken His own from the common destruction prepared for the wicked at the end of the world. For the word "living" is an epithet of God. For God is the very uncreated life, which is the fount and author of all life — of angels, men, animals, and plants — both natural and spiritual, both blessed and glorious. What this sign was, I shall now say.
Verse 3: Until We Sign the Servants of Our God in Their Foreheads
3. UNTIL WE SEAL THE SERVANTS OF OUR GOD IN THEIR FOREHEADS. — He alludes to slaves or bondservants, who of old were branded by their master with a mark burned upon the forehead, like cattle, so that if they fled or wandered or were captured, it might be known from the brand whose master or lord they belonged to, and they might be returned to him. So Paul says he bears the stigmata of the Lord Jesus in his body, Galatians chapter VI. See what was said on Ezekiel IX, 4.
Again, and rather, he alludes (says Pererius) first to the blood of the Paschal Lamb, with which the houses of the Hebrews were marked, lest they should be struck by the angel slaying the firstborn of the Egyptians, Exodus XII. Secondly, he alludes to the inscription on the high-priest's tiara: for upon the tiara was inscribed this title: "Holy to the Lord," Exodus XXVIII, that from it as a sign it might be known that he was the high-priest of the holy God.
Thirdly and chiefly, he alludes to the sign tau, with which the mourners in Jerusalem were sealed, and that on the forehead, Ezekiel IX, 4. Whence it follows that this sign was the sign of the cross of Christ: for the letter tau had its shape; this same sign was also imprinted on the houses and doors of the Hebrews, as St. Jerome teaches on Isaiah LXVI, whose words I cited at Exodus XII, 7. The reason is that no one can be freed from eternal death (which is signified and begun in these plagues and this temporal death to be inflicted on the Antichristians) except by the power of the cross of Christ, and unless he is marked with this sign of the cross.
Finally, it alludes to IV Esdras (4 Ezra), chapter II, verse 38: "Arise up and stand, and behold the number of those that are sealed in the feast of the Lord;" of which more in verse 14, at the end. The word "let us seal" tacitly contains a command by which this angel orders the others that they may seal the servants of God together with him. Hence the Arabic translates, "until you seal the servants of God upon their foreheads."
Therefore the angels at the end of the world will seal the elect with the sign of the cross: First, by visibly marking them through priests with the sign of the cross in Baptism and Confirmation.
Secondly, spiritually inducing and exhorting them, both by themselves and by the heralds of the Gospel, to a free, public, and constant profession of faith and of the cross of Christ before Antichristians and His other enemies, even unto death. For the symbol of this public profession is the forehead. For, as Cicero says in On Standing for the Consulship: "The forehead is the door of the soul;" whence the forehead (frons) is so called from bearing (a ferendo) — though Varro derives it from the openings of the eyes, which are in the forehead — because it bears before it the indications of a soul whether merry, sad, timid, or daring, as Pliny says in book XI, chapter XXXVII. Hence again ostentation is on the forehead, says Cicero; whence he himself in Oration I against Catiline: "Let it be," he says, "inscribed on the forehead of every citizen what he thinks of the republic." Therefore God loves and seals those broad-fronted, spirited, and resolute professors of His worship. This sealing is spiritual, and is done through the grace of Christ. Hence Paul says of it, Ephesians I, 13: "You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise;" and chapter IV, verse 30: "You are sealed in the Holy Spirit of God." And of Christ John says, chapter VI, verse 27: "Whom God the Father hath sealed." Clearly Paul says in II Corinthians I, 21: "Now He that confirmeth us with you in Christ, and that hath anointed us, is God: who also hath sealed us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts." See what was said there.
Thirdly, Andreas of Caesarea says: "In the time of Antichrist the faithful will distinguish and separate themselves from the unbelievers and Antichristians by the sign of the cross. For then the faithful will fearlessly and without blushing carry the sign of the cross of Christ in their sight, just as the Catholic Swiss publicly carry and bear crosses and rosaries, so that in the midst of heretics they may profess their faith, and that they are orthodox, worshippers of Christ and of the Virgin Mother of God." For the Greek σφραγίδα means a visible and expressed seal. The phrase "on their foreheads" requires the same: for a sign on the forehead is visible and conspicuous to all. So on Ash Wednesday all Christians in the Church are sealed on the forehead with the ashen cross: indeed all of them, while they rise, while they pray, while they dine, while they recline, and at other times often through the day, sign themselves with a cross on the forehead. Which is so customary and ancient a practice that Tertullian, in book On the Soldier's Crown, chapter III, says: "At every step forward and advance, at every entrance and exit, in dressing and putting on shoes, at baths, at meals, when lights are brought, when going to bed and to chairs — whatever conversation engages us — we wear away (terimus) the forehead with the sign of the cross." Note: he does not say signamus (we sign), but "terimus" (we wear away); for so frequently did they sign the forehead that they seemed to wear it away. The same is taught by St. Cyprian, epistle 63, and book III of Testimonies to Quirinus, chapter XXII, and others whom Pamelius cites there against the Calvinists. In a like manner therefore the angels at the end of the world will "seal" by their suggestion — that is, they will rouse the faithful and the saints to sign themselves with the sign of the cross and to form, paint, or wear it visibly on their forehead, as a symbol of Christ and of Christianity, by which they distinguish themselves from the Antichristians and from all the wicked. In the same way Christian soldiers with Godfrey of Bouillon, St. Louis, and others, throughout the ten expeditions for the recovery of the Holy Land to fight against the Saracens, wore the sign of the cross as the badge of holy war, as some Orders still wear it. Whence those expeditions were called Crusades (Cruciatae), about each of which Gretser treats at length in volume III On the Cross, throughout the whole book II. So too bishops wear on the breast a golden or silver cross, and the Supreme Pontiff himself wears one of adamant, even while celebrating. For these, as it were leaders of the faithful in the holy war for the protection of Christ's cross, must be strong as adamant.
Finally, if anyone, taking the words strictly to the letter as they sound, should wish to maintain that the angels themselves will seal the faithful — namely by designating and noting them with the sign of the cross, which they will invisibly and spiritually form and impress on their foreheads; and this for the purpose that, by this designation and notation of the angels, those who are about to inflict the following plagues may know whom they ought to strike and whom to pass by and preserve: if any one, I say, should hold this and so expound this passage, I shall not draw a contentious rope with him. For the angels do not know the secrets of hearts and consciences, nor do they see in them the grace and gifts of God: for these depend on man's free will (which God alone penetrates, He who searches the reins and hearts). Wherefore they do not know whether anyone is a servant and friend of God; much less do they know whether anyone is predestined and elected to glory, unless God reveals it to them, or indicates it by some sign. Wherefore the Saints are commanded here to be sealed, that from this sign the smiting angels may know them, and may stamp them in their mind and memory, that they may keep them unharmed from the plagues. But what in this matter is more true, I shall presently indicate.
Therefore here are sealed the faithful, both on their foreheads and in the minds of the angels — those, namely, who at the end of the world, when iniquity shall abound, and especially in the persecution of Antichrist, will suffer the harshest things, and will persist strong and constant in faith and piety, and so will be chosen unto eternal life. They are sealed, I say, by God's special providence and grace, to this end: that they may not be involved in the common disasters of the world, nor suffer with the impious reprobate the equal evils and plagues which the angels will inflict on them, but be exempt from them. To this sealing and signing the bridegroom invites the bride, saying in Canticles VIII: "Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm." Which St. Ambrose, in book On Isaac, chapter VIII, expounds thus: "Christ," he says, "is a seal on the forehead, a seal on the heart, a seal on the arm: on the forehead, that we may always confess; on the heart, that we may always love; on the arm, that we may always work." Wherefore Origen, homily 8 on Diverse Subjects: "Rejoicing," he says, "let us lift up this sign (of the cross) on our forehead, at which the demons, when they see it, tremble. For those who do not fear the golden capitols, fear the cross." For the sign of the cross is a tacit invocation, as well as a profession of Christ crucified. Hence by the holy Fathers it is called the ornament of the brow, a faithful sign, heavenly arms, the Christian helmet, a defense of life, a great good, salutary armor, an impregnable shield, the royal sword and scourge which routs every assault of the devil; a life-giving sign, the unconquerable armor of Christians, an immortal banner, at whose sight the demons tremble. Our Gretser cites the Fathers in book IV On the Cross, chapter LXIV.
Thus the Reverend Father Henry Garnet, of the Society of Jesus, the martyr of England, was marked with the Tau on his forehead. "For when he had presided with great praise over the Society in England for twenty years amid daily perils of death, he at length, in the year of the Lord 1606, on the third day of May, gloriously underwent martyrdom for the Catholic faith. A Catholic who was present as a spectator reverently took up an ear of grain crimsoned with blood from the straw strewn beneath the martyr's body: which, when he looked at it more attentively at home, he beheld a vivid image of the Father expressed in it. A great crown encircled the crown of his head. A cross gleamed red on the forehead, enclosed by a star — surely the seal of that heart in which the bundle of myrrh dwelt; so that on the day fittingly dedicated to the desired Invention of the Cross he attained the palm of martyrdom. Under the chin a winged Cherub was seen, indicating either his angelic purity, or his wisdom and doctrine, or both. For since he instructed many unto justice, he is adorned with the laurel of Doctors, and shines like a star among the Cherubim into perpetual eternities. This image of his face on the ear of grain, often reproduced, was spread through all the provinces of Christendom." That this miraculous likeness of his still endures in the original, grave men, eye-witnesses, have constantly affirmed to me. In the earliest times of the Church it was the custom of Christians to brand the sign of the cross or the name of Jesus on the flesh with white-hot marks, as Procopius attests on chapter XLIV of Isaiah.
"St. Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia and martyr, when as a youth he led an angelic life at the court of the Emperor Otto, and was therefore despised by the other princes, was divinely marked with a golden cross and brought by angels into the sight of the Emperor: at the sight of which the Emperor, moved, received him into his assembly, and presented him with the arm of St. Vitus and great gifts. This signing with the cross was the herald of his martyrdom, which he bravely underwent praying before the doors of the temple, slain by his brother Boleslaus, who coveted his crown and the kingdom of Bohemia, in the year of the Lord 938." So Aeneas Sylvius, who, afterwards being made Pope, was called Pius II, in the History of Bohemia, chapter XIV; Baronius at the year already mentioned, and others.
You will ask, whether this sealing shown to John was something to come about really and only in the future, or whether it was only an imaginary vision, only imaginarily future?
I reply that it was an imaginary vision. This is plain first from the fact that he says: "And I saw." Therefore St. John seemed to himself to see the angel crying out and saying: "Hurt not the earth, etc., until we seal the servants of our God." And shortly he saw him sealing each one, and gathering the number of the sealed to 144,000. Secondly, because in verse 9 he likewise saw in heaven with palms, robes, and crowns the souls of the faithful Gentiles, who were still alive on earth, and who, equally with the Jews, will be sealed lest they be harmed by the angel who presides over the winds, and who through the winds is to bring disasters upon the world. Therefore all these things were an imaginary vision. For these souls were not yet blessed, but to be blessed; nor did they really have, nor were they to have, crowns, palms, and robes — since they are souls and spirits; but through these things their victory and glory were symbolically represented to John.
Thirdly, because John plainly alludes to Ezekiel IX, where the mourning pious are sealed with the sign of Tau, whom God willed to be kept untouched in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. That sealing, however, was only imaginary, as I said there. For to Ezekiel, only in a vision did the mourners seem to be sealed by the angel, and the sealed to be saved, the unsealed to be killed: that by this it might be signified that the mourning pious, as if sealed and protected by the angel, would be immune from the slaughter of the Chaldeans; but all others, as wicked, would be slain by them. Of this very sort also was this vision of the sealed presented to John. The reason is that the angels, since they are pure spirits, do not need the sign of Tau, of the cross, or of other sensible things, in order to know who are the servants of God and to be saved, and who not; but the slightest indication or revelation from God or another angel suffices for them. At the end of the world, therefore, God either by Himself, or through an angel, will indicate to the angels who are about to inflict the plagues, saying: Do not strike such and such, e.g. this Peter, James, John, Agnes; for these are My servants and friends. From this indication the angels will seal them in mind and memory, and will take care not to inflict the plagues upon them: therefore the angels will not visibly seal them on their foreheads.
This imaginary vision, however, had a foundation in reality, and signified a real sealing, by which the Saints at the end of the world will in fact be sealed with the cross — both in Baptism and Confirmation; both through persecution and the endurance of martyrdoms, and in these the public profession of faith in Christ crucified; and properly through the formation and bearing of the sign of the cross, as I said a little above, and this for the purpose that they may show themselves to be the servants of God and of Christ crucified — show themselves, I say, not to the smiting angels, but to men, especially to the ministers and followers of Antichrist: for before them they will profess their faith and Christian religion, whose symbol is the cross; just as on the contrary Antichrist will mark his followers with his own sign and character: of which we shall hear in chapter XIII, verse 16.
The cross, therefore, is the seal of the friends and elect of God, and so is not to be fled but sought; as I have shown at length on Ezekiel IX, 4. For God together with the cross gives strength and consolation to bear it joyfully and bravely, as St. Teresa used to say. For this is what He Himself promised, saying in Psalm XC: "I am with him in tribulation." Hence prudent and holy men daily pray through the cross, that God may daily increase it, and always send a greater one. For they are certain: first, that by this grace and strength of spirit will likewise be added to them; secondly, that they are more like to Christ crucified, and therefore most pleasing to God. For if anything were more pleasing to God than the cross, He would surely have given that to His Son. Thirdly, that through the cross patience, humility, charity, and all virtues grow. For "virtue grows green by a wound." Wherefore as lime is by water, so humble endurance and charity are by affliction and persecution more kindled and inflamed. This is what Paul said: "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so through Christ our consolation abounds," 2 Cor. ch. 1, v. 5. And the Psalmist: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy consolations have rejoiced my soul," Psalm XCIII, v. 19. Wherefore Saint Teresa continually asked of God: "Lord, grant me either to suffer or to die." And Saint Xavier in shipwrecks, persecutions, and other great dangers and hardships prayed: "Lord, do not take away from me this cross, unless Thou give me a greater one." For Christ is not found in this life, nor does He appear, except on the cross, as Saint Martin used to say, according to the testimony of Sulpitius. And this is the reason why the Martyrs were so eager for torments and martyrdom, that they approached them as if to a joyful banquet, indeed ran forward to them.
It is wonderful what we read in the acts of Saints Rufina and Secunda, sisters and martyrs, July 10. For when the judge had Rufina bitterly scourged in the presence of Secunda, in order to strike and bend her, Secunda, kindled with the desire of suffering for Christ, addressed the judge with a great and constant voice in this way: "What art thou doing, O perverse one, and enemy of all virtue? Why dost thou honor my sister, and leave me untouched, so that I may not be a partaker of her crown and glory?" To whom the judge: "Thou seemest to be more foolish than thy sister." She said: "Neither is my sister foolish, nor am I; for we are both Christians, and therefore it is fitting that we both be slain for Christ: for the spirit and fortitude of Christians grows in stripes and torments." And when the judge threatened her with the violence of rape, she replied: "A virgin cannot lose her virginity unless she casts it away from her mind and consents to the wickedness. For if violence be inflicted on her against her will, that is a torment: but a torment increases the reward and crown. Do therefore what thou wilt; prepare fires, swords, racks, the colt, beasts: the more torments thou givest, the more, and equally so, thou wilt increase our crown." Wherefore both being thrown into boiling oil, but coming out unharmed, were cast into the Tiber; there also being saved by an angel, at last by the cutting off of the head they underwent a glorious martyrdom.
Mystically, Matthias of Sweden, teacher of Saint Bernardine of Siena, who explains the Apocalypse up to chapter XV spiritually, subtly, and piously, and which I have in manuscript: The servants of God, he says, are said to have on their foreheads the sign of divine contemplation, just as in verse 9 they are said to have in their hands the palms of good action. On the contrary, the servants of Antichrist, in chapter XIII, are said to have the character of the beast on their right hand and on their foreheads: which character is perverse action in work, and zeal for malignity in the mind. They are sealed, indeed the faithful seal themselves with the sign of the cross, who sternly rule their desires and mortify and crucify them, that they may become pious and spiritual men and imitate the cross of Christ: for by this sign the Spirit of Christ marks them, and in this manner they remain immune and free, so that no vexation touches them, none from the seven plagues of the angels; they are therefore free from famine, war, pestilence, ignorance, concupiscences, furies, and hardening of heart: for although they may feel these things, or be tempted by them at times, yet by the love and power of the cross of Christ they bravely bear and overcome all. Wherefore D. Tauler in the work which he titled Vaticinium, page 671, says: "The sign Tau is on the foreheads of all who, through the living faith of Christ, are found at the beginning and in the progress of a better life: and these will be immune from those plagues which John describes in chapter IX, under obscure words indeed, but revealed more clearly than light by Blessed Hildegard." So far I have not found this in the works of Blessed Hildegard.
SERVANTS, — either those who are already servants, or those who are shortly to be converted and to be future servants of Christ, namely firm and constant unto the end of life. For these already exist in the foreknowledge of God, and are sealed. For, as the Apostle says in 2 Timothy 2:19: "The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knew those who are His; and let everyone depart from iniquity who names the name of the Lord." See what is said there.
Verse 4: And I Heard the Number of the Sealed, 144,000
Verse 4. AND I HEARD THE NUMBER OF THE SEALED, A HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND.
Many think that here a definite number is put for an indefinite one. Whence first, Aureolus and others judge that by this number is signified only that very many would be converted in the time of the Emperor Constantine, both from Jews and from Gentiles; for the Jews are sealed and numbered, but the innumerable multitude in verse 9 is of the Gentiles. But because few Jews were converted to Christ in the time of Constantine, as also afterwards, hence Lyranus understands by Israel any faithful, both from Gentiles and from Jews. For these are Israel according to the spirit, not according to the flesh; and these were very many in the time of Constantine.
Secondly, Primasius, Ambrose, Haymo, Ausbertus, Anselm, Bede, Ribera, Richard, take this number mystically: for they judge that by it is signified the number of all the elect. For these are sons of Israel and of the twelve Patriarchs: sons, I say, either natural, like the Jews; or spiritual through the imitation of faith, like the Gentiles. To these Alcazar subscribes, but in such a way that he takes this number not universally of all the elect of any future age, but only of the first Christians who were living at the time when the seven plagues were poured out on the obstinate Jews (as he himself judges) denying Christ. Christians, I say, both Jewish and Gentile. For these equally with those are spiritual and true Israelites, and sons of the twelve Apostles, who are the true Patriarchs of the Israel of God. Judah therefore, he says, is Peter, freely and truly confessing Christ, that He is the Son of the living God: Benjamin is John, the least and last of the apostles living in this life: Manasseh, that is, forgetfulness, is Matthew, because he forgot his own toll-booth. Dan is omitted, because he is suitable to Judas the traitor, by whose reprobation a wondrous example was made of the most hidden judgment of God. In his place succeeds Levi, that is, Matthias. To each of these are assigned twelve thousand, because each converted very many, according to that saying of Isaiah LX, 22: "The least shall become a thousand, and the little one a most mighty nation." He adds at the end of the chapter that he suspects that by this number 144,000 are signified not all the first faithful, but only the foremost, namely those who were companions of the Apostles in preaching and propagating the Gospel, and leaders of the faithful: whence to them is attributed the number twelve, because this is the number of the college of the Apostles, of whom they were as wedges and almost decuries. But the text contradicts: for it says, "Until we shall have sealed the servants of God," not the leaders, as Alcazar himself confesses: who therefore at length retreats from this suspicion to his former exposition.
But since, as I said at the beginning of the chapter, all these things pertain to the sixth seal, and in it are joined with the obscuring of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars and the receding of the heavens, etc., and therefore pertain to the end of the world and to the times of Antichrist: hence it follows that this number of 144,000 sealed are only those who at the end of the world, both before Antichrist, and under him, and most of all after he has been slain (for these will be very many), will be converted to Christ and will be saved. For then all Israel shall be saved, says the Apostle, Rom. ch. XI, when Elijah preaches to them, as Malachi predicted in chapter IV: thus Irenaeus, book V, ch. IX, and ch. XXX, Andreas of Caesarea, Pannonius, Ribera and Pererius. At the end of the world therefore, from each of the tribes of the Jews, twelve thousand will be converted to Christ: for twelve thousand multiplied by twelve makes 144,000.
Note: This sealing, since it is of the sixth seal, will take place before Antichrist. For then the angels will seal, that is, will begin to seal, the elect (lest the disasters of the winds, as I said in verse 1, befall them), and they will go on sealing them in the very time of Antichrist, indeed after Antichrist: for then more will be converted; for all who throughout this whole time, namely at the end of the world, are to be sealed and chosen, are here described, and at the same time recounted in this sixth seal, so that the entire number of them may stand, especially because in the mind, foreknowledge and predestination of God all, even future, are already sealed. For divine foreknowledge, in which John saw these things, embraces all times. Whence John, immediately after these sealed on earth, passes over to the multitude of Gentiles equally sealed on earth, but as it were existing in heaven, and already blessed and glorious; because, namely, although they were still on earth, yet to that blessedness and glory they were sealed and inscribed by God, and were soon to be blessed and glorified by Him.
You will ask whether at the end of the world precisely twelve thousand are to be sealed and saved from each of the Jewish tribes — neither more nor fewer — so that the Jews to be saved from all the tribes will precisely amount to 144,000? Ribera affirms this, and adds that no one from the tribe of Dan (because it is here omitted) will be saved. More probably, Andreas of Caesarea, Pererius and others judge that more from each tribe will be saved, and that by twelve thousand all are signified. This is proved first, because it is not probable that from each tribe at the end of the world there will be born, and equally saved, precisely the same number, so that not even one more is born and saved from Judah than from Reuben or any other tribe; nor does it seem worthy of the majesty of the Apocalypse to descend to such precise minutiae, even if they were true. Secondly, it is not probable that no one at all from the tribe of Dan will be saved: for when the Danites see Antichrist slain, and themselves deceived by him, they will execrate him and provide for their own salvation. Thirdly, because the Apostle teaches Rom. XI, 26, that then all Israel shall be saved; Israel, I say, not spiritual and faithful, as Ribera explains, but carnal or natural: for the Apostle is speaking of this, as is plain to anyone considering. For he, hitherto so forsaken by God, will then be received and chosen by Him. This is what Christ says Matt. ch. XVII, 11, that "Elijah is to come, and will restore all things;" but all the Jews from one tribe will be more than twelve thousand, and all together will be more than 144,000. For of old from one tribe of Judah there were six hundred thousand warriors, to whom if you add the children, the old men, the women, the maidservants, you will easily have three million men from Judah; nay, even now in one province alone you will find more than 144,000 Jews. There will therefore be at the end of the world more Jews, and consequently more to be saved than 144,000: yet just as many are here named, because truly just as many, namely twelve thousand from each tribe, will be saved — but not only that number. For there will be many more: yet they are called twelve thousand, because the duodenary is a symbol of perfection and universality: for there were twelve Patriarchs of the Old, and as many of the New Testament, namely the Apostles, to whose family all those to be sealed will pertain. Hear Bede, and from him Peter Bongus, in the book On the Mysteries of Numbers, on the duodenary: "Because in whatever virtues the individual faithful have advanced, they must always be strengthened by the faith of the ancient Fathers, and informed by their examples. To the increase of perfection it belongs that this number be multiplied twelve times, and brought to the sum of a thousand, which is the squared solid denary number (for ten times ten makes a hundred: ten times a hundred makes a thousand), signifying the stable life of the Church: wherefore it is also marked by the duodenary, because throughout the squared globe, that is, through the four cardinal points of the world, it stands in the faith of the Most Holy Trinity. For the ternary multiplied four times produces twelve. Hence Christ chose twelve Apostles, that they might preach by their word the salvation of the world, would represent it also by their number." So also Saint Augustine, book III On Christian Doctrine, ch. XXXI, teaches that by the number 144 universality is signified. For it is a square: for twelve times twelve makes 144. It signifies therefore the entire and perfect multiplication of the Jewish faithful, and their wonderful concord among themselves, and as it were a measurement out of square and equality. The same is taught everywhere by other Interpreters. See the symbols and attributes of the duodenary, which I reviewed at Ezekiel XLVIII, at the beginning of the chapter.
Verse 4. Of Every Tribe.
Note: The tribe of Dan is here omitted, and in its place is set the tribe of Levi, says Saint Jerome, book I Against Jovinianum, because, as Saint Irenaeus relates, book V, ch. XXX; Saint Augustine, Question XXII on Joshua; Theodoret, last Question on Genesis; Ambrose, book On the Predictions of the Patriarchs, ch. VII; Hippolytus, treatise On the Consummation of the Age; Saint Gregory, XXXI Morals, XVIII; likewise Cyril, Isidore, Eucherius, Prosper, Rufinus and others, whom Ribera and Pererius cite; likewise Andreas, Haymo, Richard, Anselm, Bede, Rupert, Lyranus and others here, from the tribe of Dan Antichrist will arise, and therefore almost all the Danites will follow him as their fellow tribesman, just as the Simeonites followed Zambri the leader of their tribe in fornication and the worship of Baal-peor, and therefore that tribe was almost cut off by God, as I said in Numbers XXV.
The cited Fathers prove the same thing, first, from Genesis XLIX, 17: "Let Dan be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path;" which passage, either literally or certainly allegorically, is understood of Antichrist, as I taught in the same place. Secondly, from Jeremiah VIII, 16: "From Dan the snorting of his horses was heard, by the voice of the neighings of his fighters all the earth was moved." These words speak literally of Nebuchadnezzar, allegorically of Antichrist. Wherefore Abulensis on Genesis XLIX, 17, is not right when he says that this tradition is uncertain; worse Oleaster says that it is fabulous; especially since it has a foundation in the sense of Sacred Scripture, either literal or allegorical. For even now the Jews preserve their divisions and origins of tribes, so that this one says he is of the tribe of Judah, that one of Levi, this one of Dan, whether they say this truly or are deceived. Most of the Danites therefore, that is, those who will think and boast themselves to be of the tribe of Dan, will follow Antichrist their kinsman, and therefore will perish: which is the reason why they are not sealed here.
Verse 5: Of the Tribe of Juda — The Order of the Twelve Tribes
Verse 5. OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH.
The order here is not preserved of the birth, nor of the excellence of the tribes, but the order of conversion to Christ, says Ribera: for he thinks that at the end of the world the tribe of Judah is to be converted first, since from it Christ was born, then the tribe of Reuben, then the tribe of Gad, and so on. But although the reason brought forward by him concerning the tribe of Judah is probable, yet no probable reason can be adduced concerning the order of the others, but rather the Jews from each tribe, as Elijah preaches, seem promiscuously to be converted to Christ.
The mystical reason for this order is given by Ambrose, Primasius, Rupert, Bede and Viegas: Because, they say, in the conversion of man and the spiritual life the first is Judah, that is, the confession of the true faith and of one's own sins. The second is Reuben, that is, son of vision. Sons of vision are the works of virtues which faith itself prescribes. The third is Gad, that is, girded to overcome temptations. For, as the Wise Man says: "My son, when you come to the service of God, prepare your soul for temptation." The fourth is Asher, that is, blessed. "For blessed is the man," says Saint James, "who endures temptation: for when he has been proved, he shall receive the crown of life." The fifth is Naphtali, that is, breadth: because he who has conquered the temptations of the heart acquires great breadth and confidence in God. "Because," says Rupert, "secure in firm hope of this blessedness, they are not straitened, but rejoicing in firm hope, patient in tribulation, they sing with the Psalmist: In tribulation Thou hast enlarged me. And again: I ran the way of Thy commandments when Thou didst enlarge my heart. And with Samuel's mother, exulting they say: My heart is enlarged over my enemies; therefore Naphtali succeeds, which is breadth, as if after temptation overcome and blessedness obtained, an enlargement of heart and mouth would follow." The sixth is Manasseh, that is, forgetfulness: because he who is victor over temptation experiences divine consolation and forgets all earthly things. The seventh is Simeon, that is, hearing: because he who forgets earthly things is capable of hearing and perceiving divine things. The eighth is Levi, that is, borrowed: because he who wholly aspires to God reckons himself a stranger in the world and as it were borrowed. The ninth is Issachar, that is, reward, which is owed in ample measure to such a stranger. The tenth is Zebulun, that is, habitation: because in such a one God dwells. The eleventh is Joseph, that is, addition or increase: because such a one daily increases in grace and virtue. The twelfth is Benjamin, that is, son of the right hand: because such a one is exalted to the right hand of God in heaven.
Again, says Viegas, we may refer these things to the Church. For she herself is in Judah, most strong in the confession of faith: in Reuben, fruitful in good works: in Gad, proved by temptations and persecutions: in Naphtali, enlarged by charity: in Manasseh, forgetful of those things which are behind: in Simeon, illustrated by divine hearings and revelations: in Levi, illustrious in the celibacy of those continent: in Issachar, suspended in expectation of the future reward: in Zebulun, the dwelling-place of God Himself: in Joseph, wonderfully propagated: in Benjamin, placed at the right hand of God. See also what is said at Numbers I and II.
A little differently Matthias of Sweden, teacher of Saint Bernardine: Twelve, he says, graces and virtues God gives to His servants, by which He ordains them for divine contemplation. The former six pertain to purging bad thoughts, of which the first is Judah, that is confession; the second Reuben, that is cognition; the third Gad, that is promptitude; the fourth Asher, that is benignity; the fifth Naphtali, that is breadth, namely broad goodness and beneficence; the sixth Manasseh, that is forgetfulness of evils. The latter six are ordered to the illumination of the mind through good thoughts. Among these the first is Simeon, that is obedience; the second is Levi, that is penance; the third Issachar, that is prudence; the fourth Zebulun, that is perseverance; the fifth Joseph, that is wisdom; the sixth Benjamin, that is charity.
Verse 8: Of the Tribe of Joseph — Twelve Thousand Sealed
Verse 8. OF THE TRIBE OF JOSEPH, — that is, of the tribe of Ephraim, who although younger was preferred by his father Joseph, or rather by his grandfather Jacob, Genesis XLVIII, 14, to Manasseh the elder: whence he retained the name of his father as the worthier. Hence the tribe of Ephraim was more ample and more noble (because royal) than the tribe of Manasseh.
Furthermore, it would have sufficed to say: From each of the twelve tribes twelve thousand are sealed; but he repeats this number through each tribe, saying: "From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand sealed," etc., both because this is the custom of the Hebrews, as I showed in Numbers VII, 18; and because God, equally with John, delights in this repetition of each lot so happy and blessed, and as it were exchanges sweet words with the sealed themselves, in order to signify how greatly He esteems them, and at the same time, by addressing and designating them one by one, honors and adorns them, and judges them most acceptable to Himself. So Alcazar. Again, that he may show how greatly this sealing is to be made by us, and how much we ought to strive to be found among the sealed, namely that by good works we may make our election and calling sure, as Peter says. For if we are found among the sealed, we have lived well; if not, it were better never to have been born, better to have been stones and brutes rather than men.
Twelve Thousand Sealed.
For "sealed" in Greek ἐσφραγισμένα, that is marked with a sign, sealed, marked with a sign as with a seal; the word "sealed" in Greek is not expressed except here at the end and at the beginning. The Translator, however, rightly and faithfully repeated and expressed it in each tribe, because it is understood in each.
Verse 9: After These Things I Saw a Great Multitude
Verse 9. AFTER THESE THINGS I SAW A GREAT MULTITUDE.
Note: This multitude is distinguished from the 144,000 sealed: for although Ticonius and Andreas seem to deny this, yet all others commonly assert it, and it is plain from the text; for the sealed are of a definite and certain number, namely 144,000, but this multitude is innumerable; those are from every tribe of the children of Israel, this from all the Gentiles: those therefore are Jews, these Gentiles. Whence of these John says: "After these things (after the sealed Jews enumerated) I saw a great multitude," because the Gentiles were converted at the beginning of the Church after the Jews. For to the Jews first was promised Christ, justice and salvation: to them therefore the first place is given and owed. Wherefore Alcazar less correctly judges this multitude to be the same with the sealed: as if those whom John first heard numbered and sealed, he afterward saw as it were as an innumerable multitude. For he himself judges the sealed Israelites to be not carnal, but spiritual, namely the faithful both from the Gentiles and from the Jews of the primitive Church. You will say: Why then are the Jews sealed and numbered? but nothing such is said of the Gentiles, who are equally sealed and numbered by God? I answer that the Jews, as I said, were first in the kingdom of God, and they were few, hence easily numerable; the Gentiles, however, were later, and they very many and as it were innumerable. Furthermore, the Gentiles equally with the Jews were sealed. For this is understood from what He promised in verse 3: "Until we seal the servants of our God." So when he says: "After these things I saw a great multitude from all Gentiles," understand of the sealed; for these are the subject: the word "sealed," therefore, which was expressed in the Jews, is here understood in the Gentiles; just as conversely the robes, palms, glory and hymnody, which are attributed to the multitude of Gentiles in what follows, are signified to be attributed by parity to the sealed Jews.
You will ask: What is this great multitude? First, Ambrose, Ticonius and Bede judge that they are all the Blessed who enjoy the vision of God. Secondly, Joachim judges them to be the Martyrs slain in every age. Thirdly, Lyranus judges them to be the Martyrs slain by Diocletian. For these were innumerable, so that in one month 17,000 Christians were slain by him, according to Eusebius; and by Maximian the whole Theban legion at once. Fourthly, Aureolus judges them to be the Gentiles converted to Christ in the time of the Emperor Constantine. But from what has been said it is plain that these pertain to the Gentile Christians who will be holy at the end of the world, and therefore sealed and elect, and will be untouched by the plagues of the seven angels of the seventh seal, concerning which the next chapter. For these, although they still warred on earth, yet John, by his prophetic spirit foreseeing their constancy and victory unto the end of life, saw at the same time their glory and crown, and them as it were victors and triumphers in heavenly beatitude; clothed with crowns, robes, and palms, as I said at the beginning of the chapter. So Ribera and Pererius.
Furthermore, that the multitude of the Blessed will be great can be gathered from the immense number of the Martyrs alone, who however are fewer than the other Saints. For under Diocletian alone, every month 17,000 Martyrs were slain: multiply this number by the ten years that persecution lasted, you will find two million Martyrs. Whence it does not exceed belief that we may, on each single day of the whole year, honor the triumphs of Martyrs, as crowned in heaven on such a day, up to thirty thousand. Indeed even from the monuments of ancient writings we read in book III of the Revelations of Saint Bridget that in Rome alone, on any day of the year, the feasts of 7,000 Martyrs may be celebrated. As for the holy Confessors, if they be joined with the Martyrs, in the same book of Revelations it is said: "If you measured the earth a hundred feet in length and as many in width, that you might sow it full of pure grains of wheat, and each grain gave a hundred-fold fruit, there would still be more Martyrs and Confessors at Rome from the time of Saint Peter to Coelestinus," namely the Supreme Pontiff of that age. And these revelations have indeed obtained great authority with us and with learned men, according to John Cardinal de Turrecremata, who described them. What therefore will it be from Adam to our times, and not only in one city of Rome, but in the whole world; not to recount the Saints of one order or choir alone, but all Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and Apostolic men, Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors, the just and elect of every kind, age, sex and condition? "Look up to heaven," God said to Abraham, "and number the stars if you can, so shall thy seed be. I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is on the seashore." But this divine promise is not so much to be referred to the carnal as to the spiritual propagation: "for that repeated comparison of the heavenly stars," says Saint Augustine in book XVI On the City of God, XXIII, "seems to me rather to promise a posterity sublime in heavenly felicity." So our Thomas Massutius, book VIII Celestial Conversions, ch. V. Indeed Thomas Bozius, On the Signs of the Church, book XII, ch. XXII, from histories and acts of the Martyrs gathers that in Rome alone there have been more than three hundred thousand Martyrs, among whom standard-bearers were 27 Supreme Pontiffs. Our Francis Arias, book III On the Imitation of Christ, ch. XXXII and following, going through each age, province and persecution, shows that the number of Martyrs has been immense, and finally at the end of ch. XXXV concludes that easily on any day of the year there can be numbered and venerated thirty thousand Martyrs; which if you multiply by the years elapsed from Christ to now, will produce eleven million Martyrs. The same is judged by others in Genebrard on Psalm LXXVIII, verse 4. From what has been said it is permitted to estimate that at the end of the world the number of all the Saints and elect altogether, who in any age have lived in any nation, will amount to several hundred millions: but the multitude of the reprobate will be far greater, which will produce not only hundreds, but even thousands of millions. For often out of a thousand men, indeed out of ten thousand, scarcely one is saved, as is proved by the revelations which I reviewed at Numbers ch. XIV, v. 30.
Which No One Could Number.
Because it was gathered from all the nations of the whole world, and therefore was vast, and as it were innumerable, since the Jews, being few, namely only one nation, had already been numbered, and were found to be 144,000. It is a hyperbole: for truly it was finite, indeed few in respect of those perishing. Wherefore it could easily be numbered by an angel: yet it is called innumerable, because a man, e.g. John seeing it, could not number it.
Of All Nations and Tribes.
The word "tribes" does not signify that from absolutely every particular family some at the end of the world will be faithful and to be saved; but it is taken generically for ample and famous families, which embrace a numerous people and many particular families sprung from the same stock, such as are in Scotland and elsewhere. For Scotland is distributed into the principal families of the Hamiltons, Gordons, Hays and others, so that each one even of the common people knows from what family he is sprung and to which he belongs: and each family has its own head, namely the firstborn of the family, who is generally a Count or Baron: and in time of war, if for example dissension arises among the Counts, each follows his own tribe, and the head of his tribe and family, and defends his cause as if his own, even unto death. He alludes to the 12 tribes of Israel: for these were such as I have just said, and therefore each single one constituted a vast people. Again he alludes to the families and tribes of the sons of Noah, Genesis ch. X. For these in the building of the tower of Babel were dispersed and divided by God into various lands, as also into various languages, and they generated various nations and peoples.
Standing Before the Throne, and in the Sight of the Lamb.
In Greek ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ Ἀρνίου, that is, before the throne and before the Lamb; therefore they are not only seen by God, but they also see God and the Lamb: for they have their eyes not closed, but open; therefore they are blessed. For they were on earth; but John in vision saw them as it were blessed in heaven, because soon they were to be made blessed by God, since they were already in some measure beginning and anticipating the purity, constancy, and imitation of the heavenly life, the felicity and glory of it.
Note the word "standing." For from this Blessed Peter Damian, book III, epistle 8, rebukes the Archbishop of Besançon, that he permits clerics and laymen to sit in the church during the time of the divine office: Because, he says, Saint John here saw all the Saints, and in verse 11 all the Angels not sitting but standing before God. So Daniel saw them assisting Him, not sitting, ch. VII, verse 10, and Isaiah saw the Seraphim, in chapter VI, he saw standing. "Where the Seraphim," he says, "dare not sit, shall a man of clay sit, and as it were a foul and unclean menstrual cloth?" Thus also Moses by God's command stood before Him, Deut. V, 31, Exod. III, 5; thus also Elijah, 3 Kings XVIII, 15; and David, 2 Kings VI, 14; Aaron also and the Levites are commanded to stand in the sight of God, Num. III, 6, both because to stand is the part of one watchful, reverent and attentive, but to sit is the part of one drowsy, daring and torpid; and because "when we pray, then we as in battle line contend against the temptations of the malign enemies." Whence Canticle VII, 1: "What shalt thou see," he says, "in the Sulamite, but the choirs of camps?"
Clothed in White Robes.
The white robe, as I said in ch. VI, v. 11, was the garment of honor, glory and triumph. Hence it was the priestly garment, namely the byssine podere. And to this is here alluded; for he says in v. 14: "They have washed their robes, etc.; therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple." For the Saints in heaven will be kings and priests of God, as I said ch. V, v. 10. This robe therefore signifies of the Saints, first, the purity of conscience, chastity and candor; secondly, the consequent serenity, cheerfulness and joy; thirdly, felicity and glory; fourthly, the hymns, thanksgivings and doxologies which as priests they continually sing to God, who gave them victory, triumph and eternal glory. Whence Saint Gregory on Mark XVI, where the women coming to Christ's tomb are said to have seen "an Angel covered with a white robe:" A white robe, he says, signifies the joy and solemnity of the mind.
It is permitted in this place piously to meditate on and admire these words and oracles of Saint John. "I saw a great multitude." O multitude without confusion, most ordered, greatest, most happy! "From all nations." O beautiful and variegated variety from so many nations! "And tongues." O harmonious music of all tongues with dissonant consonance, and concordant harmony praising God! "Standing before the throne." O august station of those gazing on and contemplating God! "And in the sight of the Lamb." O glorious sight of those surrounding the Lamb, and accompanying Him wherever He shall go! "Clothed in white robes." O splendid robes of immortality and glory! "And palms in their hands." O magnificent palms of those triumphing! O noble victory and triumph! "And they cried with a loud voice." O joyful voices, O perpetual jubilees!
It is asked here whether the robes were really white, or purple? Peter Faber, book II Agonistica, ch. XII, judges that here is alluded to the hieronicae, that is, to the sacred victors, namely to those who in the sacred games and contests dedicated to Jupiter, Mars, Apollo and other gods came forth as victors, who were given white, and sometimes purple, robes. Therefore he himself judges these white robes to have been purple. Hear him: "Saint John attributes white robes to the Martyrs, because this snow-white and pure garment was once that of magistrates and priests, according to Plutarch: which however, dyed with the most pure blood of the Lamb, had imbibed the burning red as of the most refined murex. For what is said, that they had whitened their robes, is the same as that they had purified them." He proves this first, for by blood garments are not whitened but reddened, and therefore are purified. The Greek therefore λευκαίνειν, that is to whiten, is taken for καθαρίζειν, as Saint John says ch. I, v. 7, that is, to cleanse, and for λαμπρύνειν, that is, to render clear, transparent, and with all stains wiped away pure and shining, λευχείτονα, candidate or white. Robes therefore are called λευκαί, that is white, because they were ὑπόλευκαι, διάλευκαι, or μεσόλευκαι, that is sub-white, namely purple-white, or red-white. Secondly, because the proper garment of Martyrs is red or purple, which the Church also uses on their feasts and celebrates Masses. These therefore are called white, that is splendid and shining, as in the transfiguration of Christ Luke says ch. IX, v. 29, that His garment was white and ἐξαστράπτων, that is gleaming. And Christ's white garment, with which He was clothed by Herod and sent back to Pilate, was splendid: for this is what the Greek λαμπρά means, Luke XXIII, 11; whence by the Syriac it is called scarlet. For of martyrs Saint Augustine takes this passage, sermon 11 On the Saints, and Saint Gregory, homily 17 on Ezekiel. Thirdly, because John alludes to the hieronicae: but the garments of these triumphing were often purple. Whence of purple Pliny says, book IX, ch. XXXVI: "In the triumphal it was mingled with gold." Fourthly, because λευκόν to the Greeks is often the same as bright, limpid, splendid. Whence water, spring, summer, river, speech, verse are called λευκά, that is white, that is, serene, bright, lucid. Fifthly, because purple is sometimes the same as candid and shining. For thus the swan is called purple, that is white and splendid.
On the opposite side Alcazar judges the white robes to have been plainly candid, not purple, and this seems truer. For first, to the victor in ch. III, v. 5, Christ promised white garments, not purple. Secondly, because allusion is made to the priestly robes: these however were byssine and white. Thirdly, because allusion is made to Isaiah I, 18: "If your sins shall be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow: and if they shall be red as crimson, they shall be as white wool." Fourthly, because Christ's garment in the transfiguration was made white as snow from the wondrous light and glory of Christ: such also will be the garment of these servants of Christ, as is plain ch. XIX, v. 14: where of the Saints already glorious, following Christ as their leader sitting on a white horse to enter battle with Antichrist, it is said: "And the armies which are in heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." Fifthly, because often the garments of those triumphing, as also of magistrates, were white, as Faber confesses. Sixthly, because granted that purple is sometimes put for white, never however is white put for purple.
To the first, I reply that they are said to be by the blood of Christ — the souls are whitened metaphorically, that is, cleansed. For the blood of Christ does not properly and physically touch the soul, so as to dye, infect, and empurple it with its own color. This is what John says in his First Epistle, chapter 1, verse 7: "The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin." Therefore, as Alcazar notes, the blood of Christ is here considered as a most efficacious soap, which thoroughly eats away and wipes off all stains and filth, and so makes linens white, even though it is not itself white.
To the second, I reply that these souls were not only those of the Martyrs, but of any of the faithful Saints and elect who, after baptism or penance, resisted bravely and constantly all the temptations and persecutions, especially those of Antichrist, and therefore did not soil the white garment received in baptism or renewed by penance, but kept it white, as Ticonius, Bede, and others teach. I admit, however, that many among them will be Martyrs; but their robes too, because they clothe only the souls and not the bodies, are white: because the beatific glory, which the robe signifies, since it is spiritual light and brightness, is more comparable to whiteness than to redness; for light is white, not red. Hence in the hymn Te Deum laudamus the Church sings: "The white-robed army of Martyrs praises Thee." Therefore, as for the red color which is given to the Martyrs, it is on account of their bodies, to represent that the blood poured out by them merits the purple and the heavenly kingdom. Wherefore it is likely that even in heaven the gift of brightness which will be in the bodies of the Martyrs will be so white that it will at the same time be red, or variegated of white and purple, as I have said with Dominic Soto on Daniel XII, 3.
Now therefore the souls of all the Saints, even of the Martyrs, have a white robe, that is, the beatific glory; but after the resurrection the bodies of the Martyrs will have a brightness which is white indeed, but in such a way that there is in it a certain appearance and reflection of purple: as we see in certain white and most precious gems a red breath within them, and as it were a purple soul. For excessive whiteness, especially of light, so shines that it appears to redden and turn purple, as is plain in lightning. And this is what Luke says of Christ in the Transfiguration.
To the third, fourth, and fifth, the response is plain from what has been said.
Furthermore, the Martyrs are clothed in white: first, because the white shows that they have contended for the hoary and white faith even unto death. For white color signifies the antiquity and venerable age of the faith. Hence by Virgil it is called "hoary faith"; thus Giraldus, Syntag. I. Secondly, because a white garment is the symbol of victory and triumph. Hence Apocalypse III, 5: "He that shall overcome shall be clothed in white garments." Wherefore Tertullian, in his book On the Soldier's Crown: "Wholly armed by the Apostle, and better crowned by the white laurel of martyrdom, he awaits in prison the donative of Christ." And St. Cyprian, in his sermon On the Lapsed, near the beginning: "There is present a white-clad cohort of Christ's soldiers, who by their steadfast encounter have broken the turbulent fierceness of the persecution."
Thirdly, because white color is a sign of peace, which the Martyrs after their battle obtain eternally in heaven. Hence formerly the request of surrender and peace was not held firm and ratified except by displaying a white garment. Whence Aeneas, in Aeneid III, took the omen of peace from the whiteness of the horses which appeared in sight of Italy. Tamerlane, when besieging a city, on the first day held forth a white banner as a sign of peace, if they would surrender; on the second day a black; on the third day a bloody one. Fourthly, white denotes glory and immortality, and especially the gift of brightness of the Martyrs. Hence the Angels after Christ's resurrection appeared to Magdalene and the Apostles in white robes. For this reason St. Anthony, coming to Alexandria, presented himself white-robed before the judge, that he might obtain from him the laurel of martyrdom. Hear about him St. Athanasius in his Epistle to those leading the solitary life: "Girded in shining garment, he provoked the approaching judge with his look, burning with desire for martyrdom." Thus Saints Gervasius and Protasius, the Martyrs, appeared white-clad to St. Ambrose, when by an intimation of St. Paul he sought and found their bodies, as he himself relates in the circular Epistle which he wrote to the Bishops of Italy concerning this discovery.
Symbolically, St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Day of Easter: "These troops," he says, "are of the whitened Saints, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; because there came forth with Him and in Him a whitening water, and he who saw it bears witness. Or certainly, white in the blood of the new-born Lamb, in milky blood, white and ruddy, as you have it in the Song of Songs, chapter v: 'My beloved,' says the spouse, 'is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.'" Excellently St. Jerome, vol. II, epistle 11: "Let him," he says, "enjoy that crown of virtue, and on account of his daily martyrdoms, robed, let him follow the Lamb."
AND PALMS IN THEIR HANDS. — The palm, among historians both sacred and profane, is the symbol of victory. Hence in the temple of Solomon, as also of Ezekiel, palms were carved, as if displaying the prize to those entering, if they should contend generously for God and conquer, as I have said more fully on Ezekiel, chapter XLI, at the end of the chapter. For this multitude which John saw is of the victors: for he says of them in chapter XV, verse 2: "They overcame the beast (that is, Antichrist) and his image, and the number of his name." Excellently St. Augustine, sermon 11 On the Saints: "They shine in white robes and have palms in their hands, because they have rewards for their works, since the bodies which were for the Lord's sake roasted by fires, torn by beasts, consumed by scourges, broken in pieces over precipices, scraped by claws, in every kind of torments scattered, they receive glorified through the resurrection," that is, they hope, indeed they believe, that on the day of judgment they will receive them back.
He alludes to the victors in the Olympic and other contests, especially the sacred ones, that is, to the hieronicae: for these were presented with a white, flowery, and triumphal garment, and a palm, and at times even a palm-crown. Hence Tertullian, in his book On Flight in Persecution, near the beginning, teaches that the comparison here is taken from the athletic contest. "By whom," he says, "is the contest proclaimed, except by Him who proposes the crown and the rewards? You read the edict of that combat, by what rewards He invites to victory (saying chapter III, verse 5: He that overcometh, this one shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life); thus you will recognize that the judgment of the contest pertains to the same Master of the Games who invites to the reward." Again, the hieronicae were also crowned after death, and almost divine honors were paid them; indeed they were called Joves. Thus Pausanias in his Arcadica, fol. 219, relates that formerly in the contests, especially the sacred ones, a φοινικοῦν στέφανον, that is, a palm crown, was given to the victor; and he adds that by Theseus, when, returning from Crete, he had instituted a contest at Delos in honor of Apollo, palm crowns were given to the victors, and from there a beginning was made for this custom, of whose palms at Delos Homer also makes mention. And Plutarch in Theseus: "They say," he says, "that he held games at Delos, and that the victors were then for the first time presented by him with palm branches."
Furthermore, they used to set this palm in the middle of the stadium, in a more elevated place, on a table to be seen, as Petrus Faber teaches from St. Chrysostom, Virgil, and others, in Agonisticon, II, 25. Plutarch gives the reason in his Symposiacs, Question IV, at the end: "In contests," he says, "the palm was chosen as the sign of victory, because it is its nature not to yield to those pressing and oppressing it," but to rise up more strongly. Again, the palm signifies that victory is acquired by hands and by laboring. For from the likeness of the palm, that is, the hollow hand, which gracefully opens out into fingers, the palm tree is so called, because in like manner it has its foliage spread out around the top, and branches stretched out in the fashion of fingers. Hence we also call its fruits dactyli, that is, fingers, because they are like fingers. Hence too the palm was given into the hand of the victor, as a palm of palm: for by the hand and palm in fighting, the palm of triumph is acquired.
Wherefore at Rome on the Capitol, the palm which sprang up twice during the war with Perseus portended victory. So also the palm at Tralles on the base of the statue of Caesar the Dictator, springing up about the time of his civil wars, foreshadowed his triumphs, as Pliny attests, book XVII, chapter 25. Here is true that saying: "Gold is born for you at home." So Claudian in Praise of Stilicho: "When Victory herself, rising lofty with full wings, opened her sacred temples to the leader, rejoicing in the green palm, and clad with trophies."
Moreover, the palm that had sprung up on the head of Perseus was prostrated by storms, and in the same place a fig tree sprang up, in the lustrum of M. Messala and G. Cassius, from which time Piso, a serious author, declares that chastity was overthrown, says Pliny, book XVII, chapter 25. Thus softness undoes chastity, and luxuries take away the strength of virtue. By these Rome was conquered, which could not have been overcome by any arms, when, as Juvenal says: "Luxury more savage than arms has settled upon us."
Therefore the palm is here given to the Saints to come at the end of the world, because they will have a fierce contest with the flesh, the world, and the devil, and especially with Antichrist and other impious men, and very many of them will fall as Martyrs; nay, all will be Martyrs, at least in desire and preparation, and so far as it depends on Antichrist. For he himself by a common edict will condemn to death all the faithful resisting him, as Decius, Diocletian, and other tyrants once did. For, as St. Cyprian teaches, all those can be called Martyrs who, by the decrees of unbelieving princes and tyrants, are condemned to death for the faith of Christ. Hence too the Confessors of old, who were imprisoned awaiting the sentence of death, are called Martyrs. Hence St. Cyprian wrote a book to these Martyrs, by which he encourages them actually to undergo martyrdom. Let them therefore rejoice, and let them glory in the Lord under this title of martyrdom — the Religious who in this age in Japan, China, England, etc., are proscribed by the edicts of unbelieving or heretical princes, and condemned to death.
Hugo Cardinalis notes that the leaves of the palm are like a sword or dagger, narrow and sharp, so that they truly hurt and prick the one touching them, and by this is signified, first, that the sword by which the Martyrs are struck is turned into a palm, that is, into a triumph. Secondly, that the palm of glory is not obtained except by the sword, that is, by combat. So also the pomegranate is the symbol of martyrdom, of which it is said in the Song of Songs IV: "Like a piece of pomegranate are your cheeks;" because, as Bede explains, among all fruits only the pomegranate is crowned and ruddy with seeds; and therefore it signifies the most beautiful and most precious crown of the Martyrs reddened and empurpled with their own blood. "The palm," says St. Ambrose in sermon 24, "is sweet for food to the Martyrs, shady for rest, honorable for triumph, always green, always clothed with leaves, always ready for victory; and therefore the palm does not wither, because the Martyrs' victory does not wither." Beautifully Tertullian, Apologeticum L: "It is a battle for us," he says, "that we are summoned to the tribunals, so that there at the peril of our heads we may contend for the truth. That victory has both the glory of pleasing God and the spoils of living forever: therefore we conquer when we are killed, we escape when we are condemned. Though you now call us Sarmenticii and Semaxii, because, bound to a stake at the middle of an axle, we are burned amidst a circle of brushwood. This is the dress of our victory, this is our palm-embroidered garment, in such a chariot do we triumph." He calls the garment and tunic palmata because palms were woven into it, which is also noted by Livy in book X in connection with triumphs, from which Servius in book XI of the Aeneid likewise observed that the toga is called palmata. Paschalius, in book VI On Crowns, chapter 21, thinks that Tertullian alludes to the palms growing on the rock of Vulcan, which burns perpetually. For although there the roots of the palm are constricted by fiery rocks, yet they flourish and produce abundant fruits; which is like a miracle: so the Martyrs grow green amid the brushwood and fires, and produce fruits of heavenly charity and fortitude.
Furthermore, the palm loves a salty soil, and is averse to manure, says Ruellius in book I On the Nature of Plants, chapter 118. Thus virtue seasoned with the salt of patience does not suffer itself to be defiled by the filth of vices, but shines with unstained honors. The same about the palm Theophrastus teaches in book II of his History of Plants, chapter 6: "It desires," he says, "a sandy and salty soil; and therefore where there is no such, farmers sprinkle salt." Plutarch in his book On the Silence of Oracles writes that in a temple consecrated by Cypselus there was a bronze palm, at the roots of which were seen carved many frogs and water-snakes: the palm beset by frogs signifies that envy is the companion of virtue. Again, the palm cut down springs up again: and we have a marvelous account of it together with the phoenix bird, which is thought to have received its name from the symbolism of this palm (for φοῖνιξ signifies both palm and phoenix), that it dies again and is reborn from itself, says Pliny, book XIII, chapter 4. Thus the Martyrs in dying are reborn to immortal life. "With Thee standing, I shall flourish."
Moreover Quintus Calaber, describing the shield of Achilles, says that on it was wrought a mountain of divine Virtue, on which she herself stood resting her feet upon the top of a palm, lofty, reaching to heaven. For Virtue, as Claudian says in his Panegyric on the Consulship of Theodosius: "Spirited in her own riches, and unmoved by all chances, from a lofty citadel she looks down upon mortal things."
Horace, in book I of his Odes, declares that men by heroic and palm-bearing victories of the virtues are exalted to the gods, and almost exchange humanity with divinity: "And the noble palm exalts the lords of the earth to the gods." So heroes and Martyrs share in the strength and glory of God, and are as it were certain earthly gods.
Finally, Plutarch in his Symposiacs, and from him Carolus Paschalius in book VI On Crowns, chapters 20 and 21, notes of the palm: first, that it is of the longest life; secondly, that it springs up again from nowhere except from itself; thirdly, that in perpetual greenness it surpasses the laurel, the olive, and the myrtle, the leaves of which trees, when they fall, are succeeded by others, while it itself loses nothing of itself. Therefore the palm is judged for its beauty, its constant verdure, its unconquered strength, and is therefore the symbol of heroic virtue and of victory. Hence by Virgil in Aeneid V the palm is called "steep," since one does not arrive at virtue except by steep paths. Wherefore Tertullian, Against the Gnostics: "The boxer himself," he says, "does not complain, he does not wish to grieve: the crown covers wounds, the palm conceals the blood; there is more of victories than of injuries." And again: "An innumerable multitude white-robed, and conspicuous with the palms of victory, are revealed (in this place of the Apocalypse), namely triumphant over Antichrist."
Furthermore, the prize of the Olympic victors was the palm, and they bore it in their hands; others even with a head crowned from it. Hence Virgil, Georgics III: "Or one who admires the rewards of the Olympic palm." And Cassiodorus, Variae lectiones, book VIII, chapter 22: "Those contending," he says, "in the stadium, a more numerous crown glorifies; the Olympic chariots a frequent palm ennobles." Hence in the Acts of the Martyrs we read everywhere that this or that Martyr by the sword, fire, cross, etc., obtained the palm of martyrdom. Therefore to the Martyrs, as legitimate hieronicae and true Olympic victors, the palm is here assigned by St. John, indeed by Christ. Thus St. Paphnutius the Anchorite, fixed to a palm, obtained the palm of martyrdom, whose birthday the Church commemorates on September 26, of whom elegantly the Poet: "The palm belongs to the victors: you were fixed to a palm; therefore / Go forth joyful, since you go forth as no other than a victor."
Thus St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, when beheaded as a Martyr, the faithful placed on the Episcopal throne (on which while living, out of zeal for humility, he had refused to sit), with palms as a sign of victory, and they sang hymns to God. Indeed even a voice was heard from heaven: "Peter the beginning of the Apostles, Peter the end of the Martyr Bishops of Alexandria." So his Life has it.
Verse 10: And They Cried with a Loud Voice
10. AND THEY CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE (with great affection of gratitude, exultation, and jubilation): SALVATION TO OUR GOD, WHO SITS UPON THE THRONE, AND TO THE LAMB. — Supply, be ascribed; or as if they should say: We pray and congratulate with all our heart God for His salvation, glory, and felicity, from whom all our salvation and glory and that of others has flowed. For He has not only saved us from the plagues of the angels to be brought upon the world at the end of the world, but also from sin and eternal damnation, and has bestowed upon us life, salvation, and eternal beatitude. Hence Vatablus and Erasmus translate the Greek σωτηρία, that is salus, as salvatio, as if to say: That we are saved, this we owe to God and to Christ. "With a loud voice," says St. Augustine in sermon 11 On the Saints, "they sing salvation to God, who with great thanksgiving recall that they have overcome the contests of the assailing tribulations not by their own virtue, but with His help."
Verse 11: And All the Angels
11. AND ALL THE ANGELS, — applauding the salvation of their clients, namely the sealed and elect men, and giving thanks to God for it, and praising Him together. See what was said on chapter V, verses 11 and 12.
Verse 12: Saying: Amen. Blessing and Brightness
12. SAYING: AMEN. — This first "Amen" can be taken in two ways: First, as a noun, signifying truth, faithfulness, stability, as if this were the first praise and epithet which the angels attribute to God, as if to say: Let truth be ascribed to God, let the truth of God be celebrated by all, by which He has faithfully acted, and which He promised, that He has led His servants sealed by Him through so many temptations and storms into the harbor of salvation. See what was said on chapter III, verse 12. So Ribera.
Secondly and more simply, "Amen" can be taken as an adverb, as if the multitudes of the angels were applauding the Blessed who sing: "Salvation to our God and to the Lamb;" for to these the angels respond as it were with alternating voice and chorus, "Amen," as if they should say: "Let it be, let it be." Hence the Roman Bible and others place a period after "Amen," by which they signify that "Amen" is the closing clause of the preceding doxology, and does not pertain to their new doxology which follows: "Blessing and brightness." For when all the Blessed had uttered their own, the Angels confirm it saying: "Amen;" and besides, out of an immense affection of gratitude, they subjoin their own new one, to which they again attach "Amen."
Here Alcazar notes that this iteration of the "Amen" signifies a vehement asseveration, arising from a deeper penetration and a greater admiration of the divine goodness, which has exalted wretched men, lost in sin, through the blood and death of Christ to so great a salvation and glory.
Blessing and Brightness.
BLESSING AND BRIGHTNESS. — In Greek δόξα, that is, glory; supply, be ascribed to God, as if they say: Let all the Angels, men, and creatures bless and glorify God, who has so faithfully, wisely, and beneficently saved and blessed these His sealed ones. Hence the Syriac and Arabic translate "brightness" as "glory." Blessing properly is a wishing of good, as when one prays well for another by vow or word: God's blessing is efficacious, man's inefficacious.
And Thanksgiving.
AND THANKSGIVING. — In Greek εὐχαριστία. This praise is here put for divinity, which is attributed to the Lamb in chapter V, verse 12; for the other six praises which are there given to the Lamb are here given to God. The Angels here indicate that the blessed men render immense thanks to God, and they admonish the living and the militant to do the same. For these blessed, or rather to be blessed at the end of the world, will be in the gravest persecutions, temptations, and dangers of damnation: for Antichrist will tempt them in every way, the world will tempt them, the flesh, and all the demons. When therefore they have escaped to the harbor of salvation and obtained the palm, when they see so many shipwrecks of salvation, so many crises of sinning, in which thousands upon thousands, indeed their companions, comrades, parents, children, kinsmen, friends, have perished and been damned, their whole mind and spirit will pour itself out in thanksgiving, and their heart will not contain its joy, indeed it would burst from joy, unless God restrained it, especially when they see themselves placed in such happiness, glory, and heavenly kingdom, and confirmed and secure in it, so that they can never fall from it, but are plainly certain that it will be perpetual for them, and lasting unto all eternity. Whence with all their inmost being they will sing: "Let us sing to the Lord, for He is gloriously magnified: the horse and his rider He hath cast into the sea." And the rest which Moses with the Hebrews sang, after the Red Sea was crossed and Pharaoh drowned, Exodus xv; and especially that: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory." Wherefore the best way of obtaining from God the gift of perseverance, and of attaining to salvation and beatitude, is continual thanksgiving. For this is the beginning of the heavenly life, this is the spur to pursue this journey continually unto heaven; this is the silent invocation of God, which elicits and calls forth from Him new and continuous grace. For, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 26 to the People: "The best guardian of benefits is the very memory of benefits and the perpetual confession of thanksgiving." And our Thomas, taught of God, in book II of the Imitation of Christ, chapter x: "Be grateful for the smallest things, and you will be worthy to receive greater. Whoever desires to retain God's grace, let him be grateful for the grace given, patient for it taken away; let him pray that it may return, let him be cautious and humble lest he lose it." And above: "Therefore the gifts of grace cannot flow into us, because we are ungrateful to the Author, and do not return all to the source from which it springs. For grace is always owed to him who worthily renders thanks; and what is wont to be given to the humble is taken away from the proud."
Moral Place on Thanksgiving.
Here therefore is a moral place on thanksgiving. How necessary, useful, holy, and pleasing to God it is, is plain from this, that in both Testaments it is often commanded and sanctioned by God under grave fault and penalty, not indeed for the sake of God Himself (for what accrues to God from the gratitude of little men?), but for our advantage. Truly St. Augustine on Psalm cxxxiv, at the beginning: "If," he says, "the servants do not praise the Lord, they will be ungrateful, irreligious. What do they do by not praising the Lord, except feel the Lord severe?" Therefore from the very beginning of the world's creation, God commanded that this benefit be celebrated weekly, and thanks given, and so from then He instituted and sanctified the sabbath, Genesis II, 3. Thus the benefit of preservation and governance of created things He commanded to be celebrated and weighed with grateful memory on the first day of every month, and so He instituted the feast of the Neomenia, Numbers xxviii, 11, as I taught there. Thus the benefit of liberation from Pharaoh and Egypt He commanded to be remembered with mindful gratitude every year by celebrating Passover, Exodus xii, 27. He commanded the memory of the giving of the Law to be renewed at Pentecost; of protection and being led through the desert for 40 years, in the feast of Tabernacles, and so of the others. Furthermore in Leviticus chapter vii, verse 12, He sanctioned a special sacrifice for thanksgiving, with its libations and ceremonies. In Deuteronomy chapter xxvi, verse 2: "Thou shalt take," He says, "of all thy fruits, etc., and shalt go to the priest, and say: I profess this day before the Lord thy God that I am come into the land for which He swore to our fathers, that He would give it to us." Thus He exacted the tithes and first-fruits of the harvests in thanksgiving, that they might be as it were a homage of the holy land, given to the Hebrews as it were in fief.
Far more clearly, more strictly, and more often this thanksgiving is prescribed in the New Testament. Christ sanctioned it by word and by example. In Matthew chapter xiv, 19, Luke ix, 13, when about to feed five thousand men in the desert with five loaves and two fishes, He cast His eyes to heaven, gave thanks to God, blessed the loaves, and by this prayer and thanksgiving as it were elicited the power of multiplying and nourishing, so that the few loaves satisfied so many thousands, "teaching us," says St. Chrysostom, hom. 50 to the People, "not to approach the table until we give thanks to Him who has provided food for us." Again, Luke chapter xvii, verse 17, rebuking the ingratitude of the lepers cleansed by Him: "Were not," He says, "ten cleansed? and where are the nine? There is none found that returned and gave glory to God, but this stranger." St. Paul, Ephesians v, 3: "Let all uncleanness or covetousness," he says, "not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints, etc., but rather thanksgiving." And verse 20: "Singing in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father." Philippians iv, 6: "Be nothing solicitous; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God." Colossians III, 15: "Let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful." And chapter iv, verse 2: "Be instant in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving." I Thessalonians v, 16: "Pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you all." II Thessalonians chapter i, verse 3: "We ought always to give thanks to God for you." And truly which of the Christians, considering both the common and the private benefits which day by day, indeed every hour, he draws and feels from God, and these so many and so great, does not continually say with the Psalmist: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who crowns thee with mercy and compassions." Certainly God crowns, surrounds, and walls us about on every side with His gifts and mercies, and that daily.
Thanksgiving Is the Victim of the New Testament.
Therefore thanksgiving is proper to the Saints of the New Testament, on account of the immense graces and gifts which they have received in it through Christ, and which they receive daily. This Isaiah foretold, LI, 3: "The Lord," he says, "will comfort Sion, and will make her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise." Hence first, it is itself called the sacrifice of praise: for this sacrifice of praise belongs to the New Testament, since the sacrifices of the Old were of oxen and victims. Psalm xlix, verse 13: "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High." And verse 23: "The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me; and there is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God." Which words St. Augustine, citing in book I Against the Adversaries of the Law, chapter 18, adds: "Now what is a more sacred sacrifice of praise than that in the giving of thanks?" And whence ought greater thanks to be given to God, than for His grace through Jesus Christ our Lord? Which the faithful know wholly in the sacrifice of the Church, of which all the previous kinds of sacrifices were the shadows.
Secondly, because Christ, giving thanks to the Father, instituted the unique and most excellent sacrifice and Sacrament of the new law, for thanksgiving for all benefits, especially of our redemption, which from this is called the Eucharist, that is, thanksgiving, as St. Chrysostom teaches, hom. 26 on Matthew.
Thirdly, St. Paul, I Timothy chapter ii, verse 1, among the prayers gives to thanksgiving the last, that is, the most worthy place: "I beseech," he says, "first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made for all men," etc., as Cassian teaches and explains, Collations book IX, chapter 14, and St. Chrysostom, homily 1 to the People: "A great treasure," he says, "is thanksgiving, great riches, an unconsumed good, a strong armor; just as blasphemy brings huge loss to those who are accustomed to swear falsely, and besides causes more to perish. You have lost money: if you have given thanks, you have gained the soul, and have obtained greater riches, because you have drawn forth God's favor more abundantly. But if you have blasphemed, you have both lost your salvation, and slain the soul."
Fourthly, because this is the one thing which we can and ought to render to God, and which is most honorable and pleasing to Him. Hence St. Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter, XI: "The worship of God," he says, "is constituted especially in this, that the soul be not ungrateful to Him; whence in that very true and singular sacrifice, we are admonished to give thanks to the Lord our God. For God does not need our goods." Learn here that in the time of St. Augustine, in the Mass before the Canon, the priest was wont to rouse those present to thanksgiving by saying: "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God;" and the minister on behalf of those present replied: "It is meet and just." St. Chrysostom, homily 8 on the Epistle to the Colossians: "If you give thanks in adversities," he says, "first, you gladden God; secondly, you put the devil to shame; thirdly, you make what was done evil to be nothing: for both you give thanks, and God cuts off the sorrow, and the devil departs."
Fifthly, because God's benefits to us surpass all thanksgiving and praise; hence St. Chrysostom, hom. 62 on Matthew: "Do you think," he says, "if we should die daily for Him who loves us so wonderfully, that we could render worthy thanks, nay rather, render even the smallest something? By no means." And St. Augustine, book VII Of the City, chapter 31: "For the fact that we are, that we live, that we behold heaven and earth, that we have mind and reason, that He did not desert us when overwhelmed by sins, but sent us His Word, etc. — what hearts, what tongues would contend that they were sufficient to give thanks?"
Sixthly, St. Chrysostom on Psalm xlix: "Nothing," he says, "makes one grow in virtue equally as to dwell and converse continually with God, and to give Him perpetual thanks and to sing psalms." St. Bernard gives the reason, sermon 13 on the Canticle: "To the place," he says, "from which they go forth, let the rivers of thanksgiving return, that they may flow again. How? you say. How? as the Apostle says: In all things giving thanks. Whatever wisdom, whatever virtue you trust yourself to have, ascribe to God's virtue, to God's wisdom in Christ." Let us therefore say always and everywhere: "Thanks be to God. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, and is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."
So have all the Saints done. Do you want examples? King David in Psalm cxv, verse 12: "What," he says, "shall I render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to me?" Furthermore David wrote many Eucharistic psalms: for such are Psalms viii, cii, ciii, cvi, cx, cxiii, cxvi, cxvii, cxxxiv, and cxxxv, in which to each verse, where a new benefit of God is set forth, this intercalary and Eucharistic hemistich is subjoined: "For His mercy endures forever." Such also are cxxxvii, cxliii, cxliv, cxlvi, cxlvii, cxlviii, cxlix, cl. Christ, John xi, 41, about to raise Lazarus: "Father," He said, "I give Thee thanks, because Thou hast heard Me." Again, about to institute the holy Eucharist, giving thanks to the Father, He asked from Him and obtained the power of transubstantiating bread into His own body, and wine into His own blood. Paul, Romans i, 8: "First indeed," he says, "I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for you all." And chapter vi, verse 17: "Thanks be to God that you were the servants of sin, but have obeyed from the heart unto that form of doctrine into which you have been delivered." I Corinthians chapter i, verse 4: "I give thanks to my God always for you." II Corinthians chapter ii, verse 14: "Now thanks be to God, who always triumphs over us (that is, makes us triumph) in Christ Jesus." Chapter ix, verse 15: "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift," namely your alms. Ephesians chapter i, verse 16: "I cease not giving thanks for you." Philippians i, 3: "I give thanks to my God in every remembrance of you." II Timothy i, 3: "I give thanks to God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience." In short, Paul is as frequent in thanksgiving as in naming and repeating the name of Jesus. For what else is it to name Jesus, than to confess the Savior and the salvation received from Him? Therefore let the penitents and former sinners assiduously say with Paul, I Timothy chapter i, verse 12: "I give thanks to Him who hath strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry, who before was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and contumelious. A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation: that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief." Again with Isaiah, chapter i, verse 9: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrah." And with the Psalmist and St. Magdalene: "The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever. The mercies of the Lord, because we are not consumed;" and with St. Augustine, converted by St. Ambrose, let them sing together the hymn: "We praise Thee, O God; we confess Thee to be the Lord." Let them read and imitate the Confessions of the same St. Augustine, which are nothing else than continual thanksgivings. Finally, because they can render nothing back to God for such a grace, let them render it back to their neighbors, who are the image of God, and let them convert whomever they can, that from enemies of God they may make them friends and sons of His, who continually for themselves and their own may give thanks to God, and celebrate Him in word and life.
But let the holy and innocent sing to Christ conceived and born within them a Eucharistic of innocence, and let them say with the Virgin who conceived Christ by the gift of God: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior; because He that is mighty hath done great things to me, and holy is His name." And with St. Anna when Samuel was conceived: "My heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God. There is none holy as the Lord: the Lord killeth, and maketh alive; He bringeth down to hell, and bringeth back. He will keep the feet of His saints."
St. Augustine, epistle 5 to Marcellinus: "What better thing," he says, "can we both bear in mind and utter with the mouth and explain with the pen than 'Thanks be to God'? Nothing can be said more briefly, heard more joyfully, understood more pleasantly, or done more fruitfully than this." The same on Psalm cxxxii teaches that the common greeting of the Monks and Religious of his age (as the same is even now in use among many) was that those meeting one another should say: "Thanks be to God," and therefore they were mocked by the Donatist Circumcellions, and by way of jeering called "Thanks-be-to-God's." In refuting which St. Augustine says: "See whether a brother ought not to give thanks to God when he sees his brother? Is it not a place for congratulation, when those who dwell in Christ see one another? And yet you laugh at our 'Thanks be to God,' while men weep at your praises of God."
Finally the Church through the priests in the name of all the faithful daily gives thanks to God, and commands that each one do the same, when in the Preface of the Mass it commands that by all it be either heard with devout and harmonious mind, or recited and sung: "It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always and everywhere give thanks to Thee, O Holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God, through Christ our Lord: through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the Dominations adore, the Powers tremble, the Heavens and the Virtues of the heavens, and the blessed Seraphim with united exultation celebrate Thee together. With whom we beseech that Thou wouldst command our voices to be admitted, in suppliant confession saying: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts; the heavens and the earth are full of Thy glory: Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest."
Furthermore not only in prosperity, but also in adversity equally we ought to give thanks to God, and to say with the Psalmist, Psalm xxxiii: "I will bless the Lord at all times." Thus St. Job, stripped of all those things, and stricken by the demon with a grievous ulcer, said: "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord;" by which voice he conquered and confounded the devil, says St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on the epistle to the Romans. So the Angels and the Blessed here give thanks to God for the tribulation and struggle, which was for them the matter and cause of so great a victory and glory. St. Augustine on Psalm 144, Every day will I bless Thee, says: "Therefore whether in His gifts or in His scourges, praise Him who either fawns upon you by giving, lest you fail; or corrects you when exulting, lest you perish. The praise of the One who scourges is the medicine for the wound." St. Basil, homily on Julitta: "Are you smitten through no merit of your own? Let the hope of things to come bring you joy. Are you bound over to a just punishment? Give thanks that you pay your penalty here rather than in the future." So did the Emperor Mauritius, in whose sight when his sons and wife were slaughtered by the Emperor Phocas, he exclaimed at each one: "Just art Thou, O Lord, and right is Thy judgment." St. Jerome on Ephesians 5: "It is," he says, "the proper virtue of Christians, even in those things considered adverse, to give thanks to the Creator, and to say: Blessed be God; I know I endure less than I deserve. This is the spirit of a Christian. Such a one, taking up his cross, follows the Savior; whom neither bereavement nor losses weaken." St. Gregory, oppressed and almost crushed by the Lombards and other afflictions, and forced to lay down his pen from the tablet, concludes his Commentaries on Ezekiel with this giving of thanks: "My soul is weary of my life, because my harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep. What then remains, but that amid the scourges which we suffer for our iniquities, we give thanks with tears? For He who created us has also become our Father through the spirit of adoption which He gave. And sometimes He nourishes His sons with bread, sometimes He corrects them with the scourge, because through sorrows and gifts He instructs them for the eternal inheritance. Therefore let there be glory to our almighty Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen." St. Bernard, sermon 21 on the Canticle: "You shall be," he says, "amid the adversities and prosperities of changeable times; holding a certain image of eternity, blessing the Lord at all times." Truly St. Chrysostom, homily 8 on the epistle to the Colossians: "Nothing," he says, "is more holy than this tongue which gives thanks to God in adversities. Surely it is not inferior to the tongue of the Martyrs: both are equally crowned." The Martyrs indeed in torments, though most bitter, on account of the laurel of martyrdom exulted, and with their whole heart gave thanks to God. So Theodore the Martyr, while his whole body was being lacerated, sang: "I will bless the Lord at all times." So St. Lawrence: "I give Thee thanks, O Lord Jesus, that I have merited to enter Thy gates." So the three children in the Babylonian furnace sang: "All ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise and exalt Him above all forever," Daniel 3. So St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, St. Lucy and many others gave thanks to God in the fires with rejoicing.
Finally St. Chrysostom, homily 10 on the epistle to the Colossians, recounts the beautiful prayer and formula of giving thanks of a certain holy man: "I knew," he says, "a holy man who prayed thus: We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, from the first day even to this present, bestowed on us undeserving, whether known to us or unknown; both for hidden and for manifest things, which have been done to us either by deed or by word; both those granted to the willing and those granted to the unwilling; for all things shown to us undeserving, for afflictions, for rest, for hell, for punishment, for the heavenly kingdom." He adds the reason: "For God bestows benefits on us in many ways even when we are unwilling, and in many and even more ways when we are unaware."
Honor. — To each of these seven praises in Greek is prefixed the article ē for emphasis, as if to say: That brightness, that wisdom, that honor, etc., namely the highest, immeasurable, and divine, be ascribed to God, as is His due.
Power. — In Greek hē dynamis, that is, that power, namely the divine and uncreated omnipotence by which He created all things from nothing, and is able to create a thousand, indeed infinite other worlds, each more perfect than the last, and to preserve, vivify, and perfect the created ones.
And Strength. — In Greek hē ischys, that is, that immense might to which nothing can resist, by which He reaches mightily from end to end, and yet disposes all things sweetly: therefore strength signifies robust external execution; while power signifies the internal might of God.
To Our God, — namely both of the blessed men and of the angels: for the blessed men are fellow citizens and as it were brothers of the angels. For indeed they are sons and heirs of God.
Forever and Ever, — through all ages continuously succeeding one another, through all eternity. With immense affection and jubilation the angels wish to God the eternity of these seven praises, by way of congratulation. For they can neither add anything to Him by this their wish, nor take anything away. Truly therefore St. Basil said: "The praise of God is the work of the Angels." Wherefore St. Ephrem in the book On the Beatitudes assigns these three as it were primary. First: "Blessed is he who has been made like the Seraphim and Cherubim, and in the divine and spiritual office is never sluggish, but assiduously glorifies the Lord." Second: "Blessed is he who in his cell in the Lord, like a heavenly Angel, keeps chaste thoughts, and praises with his own mouth Him who has power over all spirits." Third: "Blessed is he who is always full of spiritual joy, nor grows weary in bearing the sweet yoke of the Lord: for he shall be crowned in glory."
And St. Bernard, sermon 11 on the Canticle: "Nothing," he says, "so properly represents on earth the state of the heavenly habitation, as the alacrity of those who praise God, as Scripture says: Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord: forever and ever they shall praise Thee." And St. Augustine on Psalm 144: "As," he says, "of His (God's) greatness there is no end, so of Thy praise there shall be no end." The same on Psalm 68: "There cannot," he says, "be praise of God except in His saints. For those who live wickedly do not praise Him, and if they preach with the tongue, they blaspheme by their life." Whence the same on Psalm 32:1, Rejoice, ye just, in the Lord: "They," he says, "praise the Lord, who submit themselves to the Lord." And on Psalm 140: "Pass over," he says, "to your reproach, and you shall praise the Lord." And on Psalm 83: "If you fail in love," he says, "you will fail in praise." Finally in epistle 120 to Honoratus, he teaches that the praise of God is the sacrifice of the New Testament: for explaining that passage of Psalm 21, You that fear the Lord, praise Him, he says: "But who truly praises, except he who sincerely loves? It is therefore as if He said: You that fear the Lord, love Him. For men of the Old Testament fearing God ran with sacrifices to the temple; but now in the grace of the New Testament, you that fear the Lord, praise Him." And again Psalm 49: "Offer to God the sacrifice of praise."
Do you wish therefore to praise God assiduously? Do you wish to emulate the voice and life of the angels? Take up, ruminate upon, and frequently use, and with them rejoice in these five hymns of the Saints.
Let the first be the Seraphic of Isaiah 6:3, and the Cherubic of Apocalypse 4:8: "Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory. Let every spirit praise the Lord."
The second is the Angelic of Luke 2:14: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." "Blessing, and brightness, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor, and power, and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen," Apocalypse chapter 7, verse 12.
The third is the Pauline of Romans 11:33: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways! For of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things: to Him be glory forever. Amen."
The fourth is the Ecclesiastical from the office of the Holy Trinity: "Blessed be the Holy Trinity, and undivided Unity; we shall confess Him, because He has shown His mercy with us. Because Thou hast created us in Thy arm, redeemed us in the blood of Thy Christ, sanctified us in Thy Spirit out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us a kingdom and priests to our God, and we shall reign over the earth. I will therefore bless the Lord at all times," both of desolation and of consolation; both of adversity and of prosperity.
The fifth is the Davidic, Psalm 102:1: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgives all thy iniquities, who heals all thy diseases. Who redeems thy life from destruction, who crowns thee with mercy and compassion. Who satisfies thy desire with good things. For what have I in heaven? and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth? God of my heart, and God my portion forever."
O Sacred Trinity, Triune Unity, One Deity! O Triple Charity, One Felicity, Blessed Eternity, Thine and ours. Amen.
Verse 13: And One of the Elders Answered
13. AND ONE OF THE ELDERS ANSWERED. — "Answered," that is, began to converse with me, questioned me in order to instruct me, as a teacher questions a disciple to teach and instruct him. For this is in Hebrew ענה ana, that is, he answered. Hence Christ the Lord, and others often, when they begin a discourse, are said in Scripture to answer. Who this elder was, is uncertain. Lyranus wills it was St. Peter, Alcazar St. Luke, who in the Acts of the Apostles described those signed by the grace of Christ, that is, the Gentiles believing in Christ. See what was said on chapter V.
Verse 14: These Are They Who Have Come Out of Great Tribulation
14. THESE ARE THEY WHO HAVE COME OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION. — In Greek there is a double article: ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης, as if to say: Out of that tribulation, that, I say, vast and famous one, of which Christ in Matthew 24, verse 21: "For then there shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved," that is, no man would be saved. He alludes to the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt: for Egypt in Hebrew is called Mizraim, that is, tribulation, anguish, from the root צרה tsara, that is, He compressed, afflicted, troubled. For so the Hebrews before Moses were afflicted in Egypt, and from there were liberated and led out by Moses. For just as in those sealed in v. 4, he alluded to the houses of the Hebrews marked with the blood of the paschal lamb: so here he alludes by the same word "tribulation," and by the word "lamb," as if to say: Just as of old the Hebrews were in great tribulation under Pharaoh, but were sealed and as it were washed with the blood of the paschal lamb, and from it were liberated by Moses: so also these faithful at the end of the world will be in great tribulation and temptation, both of the flesh and of the world, especially of Antichrist; but sealed with the cross, and washed in the blood of the Lamb, they will struggle out from it, and generously overcome it; indeed many will undergo martyrdom, and therefore will be given white robes and palms, and as victors will be led before the throne of God. Learn here: just as the cold of winter brings forth and produces the fruits of summer, so present tribulation brings forth and produces eternal crowns. This is what eternal Truth said: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 5:10.
See here how noble and glorious it is to suffer for Christ, namely it is Roman to do brave deeds, but Christian to suffer brave things. So the Apostles "went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus," Acts 5. So Paul: "God forbid," he says, "that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world," Galatians 6:14. So St. Chrysostom in exile for Christ, having been dreadfully harassed by hunger, thirst, fever, fatigue, the heat of the sun, the incursion of the enemy Isaurians, and at last exhausted, with lofty spirit he exulted, and animated others suffering similar things, and stirred them up to exult in persecutions. Whence writing to the Bishops detained in prison, in epistle 4 of the seven: "Blessed," he says, "are you because of prison, because of chains, because of the bonds laid upon you! Blessed, I say, and thrice blessed, indeed many times more! You have won the whole world to you: everywhere on lands and seas your splendid deeds, fortitude, steadfast judgment, and spirit far from servile, are sung. Nothing that seems heavy to others has deserted you: not threats which announced countless deaths; not the tribunal, not the executioner, not the heap of torments; not the judge who breathed fire from his mouth; not the adversaries who gnashed with their teeth, and exulted in countless other modes of insult; not so many calumnies, not most shameless accusations, not death daily set before your eyes; but all these things rather have furnished you abundant material for consolation. And therefore you are indeed renowned: and all celebrate and proclaim you, not only friends, but even the enemies themselves who did these things. So great a thing is virtue that even those who oppose it admire it. So great a thing is malice that even those who practice it condemn it. And so in this life your affairs stand. But what is in heaven, what speech can worthily explain? Your names are inscribed in the book of life; you are numbered with the holy Martyrs." The same in epistle 118: "You inhabit a prison, and you are bound with chains, and shut up with the squalid and filthy. What in this name can be imagined more blessed? For what does a golden crown encircling the head have such, as a chain for God surrounding the hand? What such have great and splendid houses, as a prison of darkness and squalor, and full of vast stench and calamity, for God's sake? Since these things are so, rejoice and exult, encircle your heads with crowns, dance, that the troubles into which you have fallen prepare for you great material of advantages. For this is the seed announcing a harvest more sublime than any speech: these struggles, bringing victory and palms: this voyage, gaining ample and abundant gain. Therefore recalling these things in your mind, rejoice and be glad, nor leave off any time from praising God in all things, and inflicting deadly blows on the devil, and storing up for yourselves a great reward in heaven. For the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us." The same in epistle 130 to his Antiochenes: "Have this," he says, "that we have been freed from the weakness of stomach, and we are doing well, and neither by siege, nor by the incursions of robbers, nor by the loneliness of the place, nor by the multitude of six hundred adverse misfortunes, nor finally by any other inconvenience of this place are we cast down or troubled: but rather we enjoy immense security, ease, and quiet, and daily are concerned about the state of your affairs." There finally he wrote to Olympias the last truly golden lucubration, That no one is harmed except by himself: "For this medicine," he says, "suffices for you." This was the swan-song of the golden mouth. For shortly after, exhausted by fever and the inconveniences of the journey, called to heaven by St. Basiliscus the Martyr, putting on white garments, like a candidate for heaven a Martyr, and singing: "Glory be to God the cause of all things," he stretched out those beautiful feet, and shaking off the dust of mortal life, he migrated to Christ in the 52nd year of his age, of Christ 407, says Palladius in the Dialogue, and from him Baronius. The same understood St. Father Ignatius, founder of our Society, who esteemed so highly the persecutions and chains by which he had often been bound for Christ, that he would say, if all things created by God were placed on one side of the scale, and on the other prison, chains, reproaches, scarcely all those would have any weight before these in his estimation. Nor indeed could any created nature procreate in the soul such a joy as could equal that joy of the Holy Spirit, which God infuses into the minds of those who have endured many and great things for His love. Whence asked by a certain Father: "What is the most compendious way to perfection," he replied: "If you suffer many great adversities for the love of Christ. Ask this grace from God. For to whom the Lord grants this, He grants much: for in this one benefit are contained many great benefits of His." So Father Ribadeneira an eye and ear witness, in book V of His Life, chapter 10.
Symbolically and tropologically Alcazar (although he himself thinks this is the literal sense), this tribulation is the unhappiness of captivity, of sin, and of an ulcerated conscience, from which those escape who flee to Christ: for they wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb; and therefore they pass over to the most happy lot, namely the felicity of a good conscience, and are transferred from the servitude of the demon into the number of priestly men, who adorned with garments of justice serve God in His temple.
And They Have Washed.
(some read ἐπλάτυναν, that is, they enlarged. So Vatablus and Erasmus, but wrongly: for it should be read with the Complutensian ἔπλυναν, that is, they washed, in order to make them white, as follows) THEIR ROBES, — that is, they reckoned and sanctified their garments and their bodies, that is, themselves and their consciences, through the blood and merits of Christ. It is a metaphor and catachresis: for he speaks of the spiritual purification of the soul, through the metaphor of the washing of the bodily robe, known to us; but by it he understands the washing of the soul: for the conscience is like a robe and garment of the soul, either filthy or pure and clean. For, as St. Jerome says, or rather Maximus of Turin (for to him Marcianus attributes it, and it has the savor of his style, the epistle On the Perfect Man, which is extant in volume 9 of the works of St. Jerome): "For us the fleeces of sheep and the work of woman procure garments: for them (souls) merits make the garment."
Furthermore, these Saints washed the robe of their soul, first, in baptism; second, in penance and the other Sacraments; third, by frequent groaning, prayer and compunction; fourth, by works of mercy; fifth, by the continual exercise and fervor of charity, patience, and all the virtues; sixth, by martyrdom. For by all these we apply to ourselves the blood and merits of Christ, and by it we as it were wash and whiten ourselves, that we may become white, that is pure and clean, more and more day by day. The river Selemnus of love is a remedy, by which those who have been washed forget desire, says Pausanias in the Achaicis. More noble and more efficacious than Selemnus is the blood of Christ, which extinguishes all impure loves, and, as St. Chrysostom says, reforms in us the royal image.
St. John in all these visions alludes to that famous vision of Ezra, in book II, chapter 34 and following. Where first, the blessed and sealed, just as John here, and their rewards he thus depicts: "Await your shepherd, He will give you the rest of eternity; because He is at hand, who shall come at the end of the age. Be ready for the rewards of the kingdom, because perpetual light shall shine upon you through the eternity of time; flee the shadow of this age; receive the gladness of your glory: rejoice giving thanks to Him who has called you to the heavenly kingdoms;" which words the Church has transferred to the Ecclesiastical office in the Paschal time. Ezra adds about the sealed: "Arise, and see the number of the sealed at the banquet of the Lord: those who transferred themselves from the shadow of the age, have received splendid tunics from the Lord. Receive, Zion, your number, and enclose your candidates, who have fulfilled the law of the Lord. The number of your sons whom you desired is full." Then he continues to the multitude, which here in v. 9 and following John describes, and says: "I, Ezra, saw on mount Zion a great multitude, which I could not number, and all praised the Lord with songs. And in the midst of them was a young man of lofty stature, eminent above all them, and on each of their heads he placed crowns, and was the more exalted. But I was held in wonder. Then I asked the angel, and said: Who are these, Lord? He answered me: These are they who put off the mortal tunic, and put on the immortal, and confessed the name of God. Now they are crowned, and receive palms. And I said to the angel: Who is that young man, who places crowns on them, and delivers palms into their hands? And answering he said to me: He is the Son of God, whom in the age they confessed. But I began to magnify them, who stood bravely for the name of the Lord."
Made Them White.
they reckoned, they cleansed them. For these robes are consciences, which strictly are not capable of red nor of white color. See what was said on verse 9.
Verse 15: Therefore They Are Before the Throne of God
15. THEREFORE THEY ARE BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD. — He alludes to the throne of God in the temple (for he will soon name this); for in it God sat in the Holy of Holies upon the propitiatory and the Cherubim. This therefore was the throne of God in the temple: a similar one John saw here in the heavenly temple. It signifies first, that these souls are blessed in heaven: for they have in their sight God present, and they enjoy and are beatified by His vision. Second, that they are wonderfully dear and familiar to God, and continually converse with Him, just as the highest and innermost princes continually converse with the king. Third, that they are as it were priests: "For they serve Him day and night in His temple," in Greek λατρεύουσιν, that is they worship with latria, namely offering Him the perpetual incense of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving, as is clear from what was said on v. 10 and chapter 5, verse 9. For He alludes to the priests and Levites, who with their robes, that is linen tunics, served the tabernacle, day and night guarding it, and undertaking and completing sacrifices and other duties. For otherwise in the empyrean heaven there is no night, but one continuous and same day of the bright and blessed eternity. Therefore night and day, that is, always or all day. He mentions night, because the priests by turns kept watch in the temple all night, and in turn placed on the altar parts of the perpetual sacrifice, namely of the evening lamb: for this was burnt all night, as I said on Leviticus 6:9.
Will Dwell Over Them,
by continually beholding them, ruling, protecting, beatifying them, and showing and communicating Himself and all His things to them, as if from the tower of His power and providence, by which He as it were dwells over them, and as it were leans upon them. It is a metalepsis; for God does not properly have a house or dwelling: "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof."
Verse 16: They Shall No More Hunger Nor Thirst
16. THEY SHALL NO MORE HUNGER NOR THIRST, NEITHER SHALL THE SUN FALL ON THEM, NOR ANY HEAT. — He alludes to Isaiah 49:10, where Isaiah uses the same words. Both Isaiah and John allude to athletes and victorious boxers, and to the sacred victors now retired, as Peter Faber notes in book II of the Agonisticon, chapter 12. For soldiers and boxers often suffer thirst and hunger; often they have to live under the open sky, and amid the heat of the sun build mounds, fortify camps, keep watch, invade cities, attack the enemy, and contend with him; but now as victors and retired, free from all these things, they are given rest and the prize. So it happens also to these blessed souls, as if to say: Blessed once in this life by contending, and bravely enduring hunger, thirst, sun and heat, that is a thousand labors, sorrows, hardships and troubles, now with the time of all contests passed, departing as it were from the arena and dust, henceforth they will be free from all these, and will enjoy eternal rest, joy and the triumph which in the stadium they merited by those labors and hardships bravely endured.
Mystically Ambrose takes the heat as temptations. And Alcazar: "The discourse," he says, "is about the hunger and thirst of cupidity, and about the heat of luxury and envy."
Verse 17: For the Lamb Which Is in the Midst of the Throne
17. FOR THE LAMB WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE THRONE (in that sense which I gave on chapter V, verse 6), SHALL RULE THEM, — in Greek ποιμανεῖ, that is, He shall feed them, like a most diligent and most loving shepherd of His sheep. He alludes to Isaiah chapter 49:10: "For He who has mercy on them shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of waters." Isaiah alludes again to the good Shepherds of flocks: for after their likeness Christ, both on earth, but most especially in heaven (of which the discourse here is), feeds His sheep, that is the elect, with the most abundant pastures, and gives them to drink at the most limpid fountains, and shades them with a gentle breeze and the shadowy leaves of trees, says Alcazar: although he himself refers these things to the Church militant, which God feeds with the most holy Sacraments, sacred Scripture, and the contemplation of the mysteries of the faith, which fill the hunger and extinguish the thirst of those gaping after the goods of this life; and with the gentle breeze of the divine Spirit, and the shadow of His protection, and the best examples, He wards off the heat of luxury, envy and the other appetites of the soul, and incites and strengthens it to the exercise of solid virtues. But these are moral, not literal. For literally he is treating of the Blessed, whom God feeds in heaven.
Tropologically, however, these things can be aptly accommodated to the faithful in this life serving God in spirit and in truth with the whole heart, and especially to Religious. For these begin the heavenly, blessed and angelic life. Hence, first, they continually assist God as in a temple: for religion is as it were a certain earthly heaven, says Climacus, step 4; or an earthly paradise of God, and a temple, says St. Bernard, sermon 1 On the Dedication of the Church. Wherefore by the same St. Bernard to the Brothers of Monte Dei, Religious are called earthly angels, and heavenly men: for they have their body on earth, but their soul and mind in heaven.
Second, of these it can truly be said that they λατρεύουσιν, that is, with the cult of religion and latria continually serve God, because they dedicate and consecrate themselves wholly to divine worship: for they perform all their actions according to the prescription of the Rule and of Superiors, namely from the vow of obedience; and so all their actions are acts of religion and divine worship, both because they are done from a vow, and because they are done from obedience, which is commanded by the virtue of religion. For they have undertaken the yoke of obedience for the love and honor of God alone: for it is for God's sake that they obey man.
Third, they are clothed with white robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb at the very entrance into Religion. For this is like a baptism: for it confers on them full remission of all sins, and abolishes all guilt and punishment, as it were a second baptism of holy purpose, as St. Jerome teaches to Demetrias, and St. Bernard, in the book On Precept and Dispensation; Thomas Waldensis, On the Sacraments, title 9, chapter 8; Sylvester under the word Religion III, doubt 23, and others.
Fourth, they have palms in their hands, because they have left the age with its pomps and have conquered it. Again, day by day they tame and conquer themselves and their affections. Whence Blessed Lawrence Justinian, in the book On the Monastery, chapter 18: "What else," he says, "should I call the monasteries of Religious and the places of those serving God, but the military stadiums and spiritual camps of those fighting?" Whence Religious are called by St. Basil, Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Cassian and others Ascetics, that is exercisers, as it were wrestlers, athletes and boxers in the stadium and contest of virtue.
Fifth, they are in the sight of the Lamb, because they continually have Christ and Christ's cross before their eyes, and strive to unite themselves wholly to the crucified Christ, and to transform themselves into Him; whence they are called crucified by Cassian, book IV, chapter 32.
Again, they refer their vocation, grace, liberty, and all gifts as received from Christ; and therefore they continually cry out: "Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb. Blessing, brightness, and wisdom, and thanksgiving;" wherefore their mutual consultation among themselves is: "Thanks be to God."
Sixth, "These are they who have come out of great tribulation" of an afflicted and perturbed conscience from the recollection of sins, by which in the age they were bound, and as it were enslaved to the devil. Again "out of tribulation," which various in the world, and with the world, the flesh and blood they had, especially when they changed their state, and passed from the world to Religion.
Seventh, they serve God day and night through assiduous meditations, psalmodies, prayers, and through continuous acts of charity, zeal, patience, and other virtues. Whence, as Eusebius says, in book I of the Demonstration of the Gospel, chapter 8: "As if separated from this mortal life, and bearing only the body on earth, but in thought and mind dwelling in heaven itself, as certain heavenly ones, they despise the life of all others; since indeed they have been consecrated to the highest God of all in place of the converted race." And St. Ambrose, epistle 82: "This is the militia of the angels, always to be in the praises of God."
Eighth: "He who sits on the throne dwells over them." For they are themselves in the house and family of God, and they always bear the power of God in mind, and to Him in every difficulty and business they say: "As the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until He have mercy on us. As the eyes of a handmaid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God." Wherefore God invoked by these His own, is present to them, feeds and protects them in body and spirit, and says to them the very thing which He once said to Abraham, Genesis 15: "Fear not, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great." And that of Psalm 90: "He that dwells in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven;" and that of Psalm 33: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and His ears unto their prayers. Many are the afflictions of the just, but out of them all will the Lord deliver them;" but most of all that of Zechariah 2: "He that touches you touches the apple of My eye."
Ninth, "They neither hunger nor thirst;" because they have renounced and extinguished the hunger of delicacies, the thirst of riches and goods: whence there reigns not among them cupidity nor ambition, there is no solicitude of offspring and family, nor do they feel the heat and ardors of concupiscence; because they have removed from themselves, through their cloisters and enclosures, every enticement and material of sinning. Wherefore that of St. Bernard befits them, sermon 21 on the Canticle: "You shall be," he says, "amid the adversities and prosperities of changeable times, holding a certain image of eternity, namely this inviolate and unshaken evenness of a constant mind; blessing the Lord at all times, and accordingly vindicating for yourself, even amid the doubtful and certain defects of this changeable age, in some manner a perpetual state of unchangeableness, while you begin to renew yourself into that ancient mark of the likeness of the eternal God, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of vicissitude. For as He is, so also you shall be in this world, neither fearful in adversity, nor dissolute in prosperity."
Tenth: "The Lamb rules them, and leads them to the fountains of the waters of life." For the Lamb dwells among them, illumines, inflames, strengthens them, sends in vital fountains of graces. For the Lamb here is as it were master and head of the household, as He once was in the Apostolic assembly. For what else are Religious orders, but colleges of Apostles and Societies of Jesus? Therefore in these is true that of Proverbs 18: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the just runs to it, and shall be exalted." Indeed the Lamb often feeds them with Himself in the Eucharist: for nowhere is the use of it more frequent and more worthy than in Religion.
Eleventh: "God wipes away every tear from their eyes," both in this life softening and assuaging the tears of compunction and penance with the joy of a holy, serene and cheerful conscience, and with divine consolations and heavenly joys; but more so in the other life He will furnish this very thing, and the other things that preceded, far more abundantly.
Finally they are gathered from every nation, tribe and tongue, and dwelling in the same house as it were brothers, they love one another fraternally, and have all things in common. For, as St. Basil says, Constitution 19: "To them are common souls, minds, bodies, sustenance, garment. Common is God, common the commerce of piety, common the rewards and contests, common the labors and crowns; where many are one, and one is not alone, but in many. These by the community of life retained emulate the life of the angels." See Jerome Platus, book I On the Good of the Religious State, chapter 1, 13, 16, 17, 22, and book II, chapter 51, 14, 17, 18.
And God Will Wipe Away Every Tear from Their Eyes,
as a mother wipes away the little tears of her little one, while she draws him to her breasts; and as the agonothete wipes away the drops of sweat and blood, and all the dust from the athlete and boxer, when he in the contest by struggling with the enemy has emerged victor and earned the prize. Whence the Syriac translates, He shall blot out, or wash away every tear from their eyes.
And He Shall Lead
(in Greek ποιμανεῖ, that is He shall feed, or rule and drive as a shepherd) THEM TO THE FOUNTAINS OF LIFE (that is to the living (whence for ζωῆς, that is of life, some read ζώσας, that is living) and perennial fountains) OF WATERS — of every grace and beatific glory. These fountains will be one vision and enjoyment of the immense God (that is the highest and of every good), which is one original fountain, containing many particular fountains, gushing forth from there, namely the fullness of the knowledge of all things, the abundance of every joy, the infinite treasure of heavenly riches, the exuberance of honor and glory, the aggregation of all delights, pleasures and goods, of which I spoke on Isaiah chapter 25, at the end, and chapter 33, verse 20.
Cardinal Vitalis notes in the Moral Mirror of sacred Scripture, under the word beauty, that spiritual delights are denoted rather by drink than by food, for seven reasons and analogies. The first is, that drink delights the sight as much by clarity as by color; the second, that by its subtlety it changes taste without an intermediary; the third, that by its limpidity it carries to each member, and inseparably unites to them, nourishment; the fourth, that by its power it restores what has been lost; the fifth, that by its subtlety it penetrates the whole body: whence the famished and failing, having drunk wine, immediately resume vigor and strength; the sixth, that by its satiety it allays thirst, and yet provokes the appetite for eating; the seventh, that by its ease and sweetness it easily enters the innermost parts of the belly.
He adds that by these seven endowments are denoted rather the seven rewards, or endowments of the reward of the Blessed, namely first, contemplation without discontinuation; second, fruition without interruption; third, love without separation; fourth, power without corruption; fifth, wisdom without concealment; sixth, cleanness without rebellion; seventh, concord without distinction. Then he adapts these seven to as many classes of saints: the first, to the faith of the Patriarchs; the second, to the hope of the Prophets; the third, to the fervor of the Apostles; the fourth, to the fortitude of the Martyrs; the fifth, to the prudence of the Doctors; the sixth, to the temperance of the Virgins; the seventh, to the justice of the Confessors.