from the first chapter.

1. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, and showed unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass, and signified it. Blessed are they who read and hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written.”] The beginning of the book promises blessing to him that reads and hears and keeps, that he who takes pains about the reading may thence learn to do works, and may keep the precepts.  

4. “Grace unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come.”] He is, because He endures continually; He was, because with the Father He made all things, and has at this time taken a beginning from the Virgin; He is to come, because assuredly He will come to judgment.  

“And from the seven spirits which are before His throne.”] We read of a sevenfold spirit in Isaiah,1    Isa. xi. 2. [P. 342, supra.]  —namely, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, of knowledge and of piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.  

5. “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first-begotten of the dead.”] In taking upon Him manhood, He gave a testimony in the world, wherein also having suffered, He freed us by His blood from sin; and having vanquished hell, He was the first who rose from the dead, and “death shall have no more dominion over Him,”2    Rom. vi. 9.   but by His own reign the kingdom of the world is destroyed.  

6. “And He made us a kingdom and priests unto God and His Father.”] That is to say, a Church of all believers; as also the Apostle Peter says: “A holy nation, a royal priesthood.”3    1 Pet. ii. 9.    

7. “Behold, He shall come with clouds, and every eye shall see Him.”] For He who at first came hidden in the manhood that He had undertaken, shall after a little while come to judgment manifest in majesty and glory. And what saith He?  

12. “And I turned, and saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like unto the Son of man.”] He says that He was like Him after His victory over death, when He had ascended into the heavens, after the union in His body of the power which He received from the Father with the spirit of His glory.  

13. “As it were the Son of man walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks.”] He says, in the midst of the churches, as it is said in Solomon, “I will walk in the midst of the paths of the just,”4    Prov. viii. 20.   whose antiquity is immortality, and the fountain of majesty.  

“Clothed with a garment down to the ankles.”] In the long, that is, the priestly garment, these words very plainly deliver the flesh which was not corrupted in death, and has the priesthood through suffering.  

“And He was girt about the paps with a golden girdle.”] His paps are the two testaments, and the golden girdle is the choir of saints, as gold tried in the fire. Otherwise the golden girdle bound around His breast indicates the enlightened conscience, and the pure and spiritual apprehension that is given to the churches.  

14. “And His head and His hairs were white as it were white wool, and as it were snow.”] On the head the whiteness is shown; “but the head of Christ is God.”5    1 Cor. xi. 3.   In the white hairs is the multitude of abbots6    [Abba = father. Fathers, rather.]   like to wool, in respect of simple sheep; to snow, in respect of the innumerable crowd of candidates taught from heaven.  

“His eyes were as a flame of fire.”] God’s precepts are those which minister light to believers, but to unbelievers burning.  

16. “And in His face was brightness as the sun.”] That which He called brightness was the appearance of that in which He spoke to men face to face. But the glory of the sun is less than the glory of the Lord. Doubtless on account of its rising and setting, and rising again, that He was born and suffered and rose again, therefore the Scripture gave this similitude, likening His face to the glory of the sun.  

15. “His feet were like unto yellow brass, as if burned in a furnace.”] He calls the apostles His feet, who, being wrought by suffering, preached His word in the whole world; for He rightly named those by whose means the preaching went forth, feet. Whence also the prophet anticipated this, and said: “We will worship in the place where His feet have stood.”7    Ps. cxxxii. 7.   Because where they first of all stood and confirmed the Church, that is, in Judea, all the saints shall assemble together, and will worship their Lord.  

16. “And out of His mouth was issuing a sharp two-edged sword.”] By the twice-sharpened sword going forth out of His mouth is shown, that it is He Himself who has both now declared the word of the Gospel, and previously by Moses declared the knowledge of the law to the whole world. But because from the same word, as well of the New as of the Old Testament, He will assert Himself upon the whole human race, therefore He is spoken of as two-edged. For the sword arms the soldier, the sword slays the enemy, the sword punishes the deserter. And that He might show to the apostles that He was announcing judgment, He says: “I came not to send peace, but a sword.”8    Matt. x. 34.   And after He had completed His parables, He says to them: “Have ye understood all these things? And they said, We have. And He added, Therefore is every scribe instructed in the kingdom of God like unto a man that is a father of a family, bringing forth from his treasure things new and old,”9    Matt. xiii. 51, 52.  —the new, the evangelical words of the apostles; the old, the precepts of the law and the prophets: and He testified that these proceeded out of His mouth. Moreover, He also says to Peter: “Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that shall first come up; and having opened its mouth, thou shalt find a stater (that is, two denarii), and thou shalt give it for me and for thee.”10    Matt. xvii. 27.   And similarly David says by the Spirit: “God spake once, twice I have heard the same.”11    Ps. lxii. 11.   Because God once decreed from the beginning what shall be even to the end. Finally, as He Himself is the Judge appointed by the Father, on account of His assumption of humanity, wishing to show that men shall be judged by the word that He had declared, He says: “Think ye that I will judge you at the last day? Nay, but the word,” says He, “which I have spoken unto you, that shall judge you in the last day.”12    John xii. 48.   And Paul, speaking of Antichrist to the Thessalonians, says: “Whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of His mouth.”13    2 Thess. ii. 8.   And Isaiah says: “By the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.”14    Isa. xi. 4.   This, therefore, is the two-edged sword issuing out of His mouth.  

15. “And His voice as it were the voice of many waters.”] The many waters are understood to be many peoples, or the gift of baptism that He sent forth by the apostles, saying: “Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”15    Matt. xxviii. 19.    

16. “And He had in His right hand seven stars.”] He said that in His right hand He had seven stars, because the Holy Spirit of sevenfold agency was given into His power by the Father. As Peter exclaimed to the Jews: “Being at the right hand of God exalted, He hath shed forth this Spirit received from the Father, which ye both see and hear.”16    Acts ii. 33.   Moreover, John the Baptist had also anticipated this, by saying to his disciples: “For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. The Father,” says he, “loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands.”17    John iii. 34, 35. [Compare Wordsworth on the Apocalypse.]   Those seven stars are the seven churches, which he names in his addresses by name, and calls them to whom he wrote epistles. Not that they are themselves the only, or even the principal churches; but what he says to one, he says to all. For they are in no respect different, that on that ground any one should prefer them to the larger number of similar small ones. In the whole world Paul taught that all the churches are arranged by sevens, that they are called seven, and that the Catholic Church is one. And first of all, indeed, that he himself also might maintain the type of seven churches, he did not exceed that number. But he wrote to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Thessalonians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians; afterwards he wrote to individual persons, so as not to exceed the number of seven churches. And abridging in a short space his announcement, he thus says to Timothy: “That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the Church of the living God.”18    1 Tim. iii. 15.   We read also that this typical number is announced by the Holy Spirit by the month of Isaiah: “Of seven women which took hold of one man.”19    Isa. iv. 1.   The one man is Christ, not born of seed; but the seven women are seven churches, receiving His bread, and clothed with his apparel, who ask that their reproach should be taken away, only that His name should be called upon them. The bread is the Holy Spirit, which nourishes to eternal life, promised to them, that is, by faith. And His garments wherewith they desire to be clothed are the glory of immortality, of which Paul the apostle says: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”20    1 Cor. xv. 53.   Moreover, they ask that their reproach may be taken away—that is, that they may be cleansed from their sins: for the reproach is the original sin which is taken away in baptism, and they begin to be called Christian men, which is, “Let thy name be called upon us.” Therefore in these seven churches, of one Catholic Church are believers, because it is one in seven by the quality of faith and election. Whether writing to them who labour in the world, and live21    Operantur, conjectured to be “vivunt.”   of the frugality of their labours, and are patient, and when they see certain men in the Church wasters, and pernicious, they hear them, lest there should become dissension, he yet admonishes them by love, that in what respects their faith is deficient they should repent; or to those who dwell in cruel places among persecutors, that they should continue faithful; or to those who, under the pretext of mercy, do unlawful sins in the Church, and make them manifest to be done by others; or to those that are at ease in the Church; or to those who are negligent, and Christians only in name; or to those who are meekly instructed, that they may bravely persevere in faith; or to those who study the Scriptures, and labour to know the mysteries of their announcement, and are unwilling to do God’s work that is mercy and love: to all he urges penitence, to all he declares judgment.  

INCIPIT EXPOSITIO.

EX CAPITE PRIMO.

0317A

1. Apocalypsis Jesu Christi, quam dedit illi Deus et ostendit servis suis quae oportet fieri cito, et significavit. Beati qui legunt et qui audiunt sermones hujus prophetiae, et servant quae scripta sunt. Principium libri beatitudinem legenti, atque audienti, et servanti promittit, ut lectioni studens exinde opera discat, et praecepta custodiat.

4. Gratia vobis et pax ab eo qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est. Est, quia permanet. Erat, quia cum Patre omnia fecit, et nunc ex virgine initium sumpsit. Venturus est, utique ad judicandum.

Et a septem spiritibus qui in conspectu throni ejus sunt. Septiformem spiritum in Esaia legimus (Esa., XI, 2) , 0317B spiritum videlicet sapientiae et intellectus, consilii et fortitudinis, scientiae et pietatis, spiritum timoris Domini.

5. Et ab Jesu Christo qui est testis fidelis, primogenitus mortuorum. In homine suscepto perhibuit testimonium in mundo, in quo etiam passus, suo nos sanguine solvit a peccato, ac debellato inferno, primo resurrexit a mortuis, et mors ultra ei non dominabitur (Rom. VI, 9): ipso autem regnante mundi regnum destructum est.

6. Et fecit nos regnum et sacerdotes Deo et Patri suo. Id est omnium fidelium Ecclesiam, sicut Petrus quoque apostolus dicit: Gens sancta, regale sacerdotium (I Petr., II, 9).

7. Ecce veniet cum nubibus, et videbit eum omnis oculus. Qui enim primo in suscepto homine venit occultus, 0317C post paululum in majestate et gloria ad judicandum veniet manifestus. Quid autem dicit?

12. Et conversus vidi septem candelabra aurea, et in medio septem candelabrorum aureorum similem filio 0318Ahominis. Similem dicit post mortem devictam, cum ascendisset in coelos, adunatam in suo corpore cum spiritu gloriae suae, quam recepit a Patre potestatem.

13. Quasi filium hominis ambulantem inter medium candelabrorum aureorum. Inter medium dicit ecclesiarum, sicut in Salomone dicitur: Inter semitas justorum ambulabo (Prov. VIII, 20), cujus antiquitas est immortalitas, et majestatis origo.

Vestitum talari. In veste talari, id est sacerdotali, carnem quae corrupta est ad mortem, et habet per passionem sacerdotium, apertissime traditum.

Et praecinctus erat ad mamillas zona aurea. Mamillae ejus duo sunt Testamenta, et zona aurea chorus sanctorum est, ut aurum per ignem probatum. Aliter, zona aurea accincta pectori conflatam conscientiam, 0318B et purum spiritualemque indicat sensum, qui traditus est ecclesiis.

14. Caput autem ejus et capilli erant albi tamquam lana alba et tanquam nix. In capite candor ostenditur, Caput autem Christi, Deus est (I Cor., XI, 3). In capillis albis abbatum est multitudo , lanae similes propter oves simplices, nivi, propter innumerabilem turbam candidatorum de coelo doctorum.

Oculi ejus sicut flamma ignis. Praecepta Dei sunt quae credentibus ministrant lumen, incredulis autem incendium.

16. In facie autem ejus claritas ut sol. Claritas quod dixit, apparitio illius fuit, qua locutus est hominibus facie ad faciem. Solis autem gloria minor est, quam gloria Domini; scilicet propter ortum et occasum, 0318C et rursum ortum, quod natus sit et passus et resurrexit. Ideo dedit similitudinem scriptura, assimilans faciem ejus gloriae solis.

15. Pedes ejus similes aurichalco tanquam in fornace 0319A conflato. Pedes apostolos dicit, qui, per passionem conflati, in universo orbe verbum ejus praedicaverunt; per quos enim ambulavit praedicatio, merito pedes nominavit. Unde et propheta anticipavit dicendo: Adorabimus in loco ubi steterunt pedes ejus. (Psalm. CXXXI, 7) . Quoniam ubi illi primum steterunt, et Ecclesiam confirmaverunt, id est in Judaea, ibi omnes sancti conventuri sunt, et Dominum suum adoraturi.

16. Et ex ore illius gladius ex utraque parte acutus procedens. Per gladium his acutum de ore ipsius emicantem ostenditur, ipsum esse, qui et nunc evangelii verbum, et prius per Mosen legis notitiam universo orbi protulit. Sed quia ex eodem verbo in omne 0319B genus humanum, tam Novi quam Veteris Testamenti vindicaturus est; ideo bis acutus commemoratus est. Gladius enim militem armat, gladius hostem interficit, gladius desertorem punit. Et ut ostenderet apostolis quod judicium annuntiabat, ait: Non veni pacem mittere, sed gladium (Matth., X). Et postquam consummaverat parabolas ait ad illos: Intellexistis haec omnia? Et dixerunt, ita. Et adjecit: propterea omnis scriba doctus in regno Dei similis est homini patrifamilias proferenti de thesauro suo nova et vetera (Matth., XIII, 51, 52): nova evangelica verba apostolorum; vetera, legis et prophetarum praecepta; et haec de ore suo processisse testatus est. Sed et Petro ait: Vade ad mare et mitte hamum, et piscem qui primum ascenderit, 0319Ctolle, et aperto ore ejus invenies staterem, id est duos denarios, et dabis pro me et pro te (Matth., XVII, 26). Et David similiter per Spiritum ait: Semel locutus est Deus, duo haec audivi (Psalm., LXI). Quia semel decrevit ab initio Deus, quod usque ad finem futurum est. Denique cum judex sit ipse a Patre constitutus propter hominis assumptionem, volens ostendere quoniam verbo praedicationis judicabuntur homines, ait: Putatis quia ego vos judicabo in novissimo die? non, sed verbum (inquit) quod vobis locutus sum, illud vos judicabit in novissimo die (Joan., XII, 48). Et Paulus de antechristo ad Thessalonicenses ait: Quem Dominus Jesus interficiet spiritu oris sui (II Thess., II, 8). Et Esaias: Spiritu (inquit) labiorum suorum interficiet impium (Esa., XI, 4). Hic ergo bis 0319D acutus gladius est, procedens de ore ejus.

15. Et vox ejus tamquam vox aquarum multarum . Aquae multae, populi esse intelliguntur, seu donum baptismi, quod emisit per Apostolos dicens: Ite, docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti (Matth., XXVIII, 19).

16. Et habebat in dextera sua stellas septem. In dextera 0320A ejus stellas septem dixit: quia Spiritus sanctus septiformis virtutis datus est in potestate ejus a Patre. Sicut Petrus ad Judeos exclamavit: Dextera Dei exaltatus acceptum a Patre Spiritum effudit hunc quem videtis et auditis (Act., II, 33). Sed et Joannes Baptista anticipaverat, discipulis suis dicendo: Non enim ad mensuram dat Spiritum Deus. Pater, inquit, amat Filium, et omnia dedit in manu ejus (Joan., III, 34, 35). Istae septem stellae sunt septem ecclesiae quas nominat in vocabulis suis, et vocat eas ad quas fecit epistolas. Non quia ipsae solae sunt Ecclesiae, aut principes; sed quod uni dicit, omnibus dicit. Nihil enim differunt, ut ex illa ratione quis paucorum similium majori numero anteponat. In toto orbe septennatim 0320B ecclesias omnes, septem esse nominatas, et unam esse catholicam Paulus docuit. Et primum quidem ut servaret et ipse typum septem Ecclesiarum, non excessit numerum. Sed scripsit ad Romanos, ad Corinthios, ad Galatas, ad Ephesios, ad Thessalonicenses, ad Philippenses, ad Colossenses Postea singularibus personis scripsit, ne excederet numerum septem ecclesiarum. Et, in brevi contrahens praedicationem suam, ad Timotheum sic ait: Ut scias qualiter debeas conversari in Ecclesia Dei vivi (I, Tim., III, 15). Hunc typum et ab Spiritu sancto per Esaiam praedicare legimus: De septem mulieribus quae apprehenderunt hominem unum (Esa., IV, 1). Unus homo Christus est, non ex semine natus: septem vero mulieres 0320C septem ecclesiae sunt, panem accipientes suum, et tunicis suis velatae, quae poscunt auferri improperium suum, tantum ut nomen illius vocetur super illas. Panem Spiritum sanctum, qui nutrit in vitam aeternam, sibi videlicet per credulitatem promissam. Tunicae vero suae, quibus cooperiri se optant, immortalitatis est gloria, de qua Paulus apostolus ait: Oportet ergo corruptibile hoc induere in corruptionem, et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem (I Cor., XV, 53). Auferri vero improperium suum poscunt , hoc est emundari se a peccatis: improperium enim est peccatum pristinum, quod aufertur in baptismo, et incipiunt vocari homines christiani; quod est, invocetur nomen tuum super nos. In his ergo septem ecclesiis, unius Ecclesiae catholicae, fideles sunt, quia 0320D una in septem per qualitatem fidei et electionis est. Sive ad eos scribens, qui laborant in saeculo, et operantur de frugalitate suorum laborum, et patientes sunt; et cum videant homines quosdam in Ecclesia dispensatores et pestiferos, ne dissentio fiat, portant. Admonet tamen eos de amore, ut in quibus fides eorum deest, agant poenitentiam. Aut ad eos qui 0321A in locis crudelibus inhabitant inter persecutores, ut perseverent fideles. Aut ad eos qui, sub praetextu misericordiae, illicita peccata in Ecclesia faciunt, et aliis facienda ostendunt. Aut ad eos qui sunt in Ecclesia faciles. Aut ad eos qui negligentes nomine tantum christiani sunt. Aut ad eos qui humiliter instructi sunt, ut in fide fortiter perseverent. Aut ad eos qui student Scripturis, et laborant cognoscere arcana praedicationis, et Dei opus facere nolunt, id est misericordiam et amorem: omnibus poenitentiam denuntiat, omnibus judicium annuntiat.