Commentary on Revelation & Paul 18

I. The title, the merit, the time, and the place are designated. II. The beginning of the book. III. The address, interpretation, and signification of the seven Churches are recorded. IV. Having begun the series of visions, he proceeds with the golden candlesticks and the rest. V. The quality of the angels of the seven Churches is set forth with praise and blame, with mention interposed of the twenty-four elders, the door being opened in heaven. VI. He says that from the throne go forth lightnings and thunders. VII. Concerning the seven lamps and the four living creatures full of eyes. CHAPTER ONE. 'The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to make openly known to His servants.'

It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which for this reason is said to have been given to Him by God the Father, since every work of the Father and the Son is proved to be inseparable—nay, even of the Holy Spirit, whose name he here frequently intimates—because even in the form of a servant the one and the same both receives from the Father and grants together with the Father the things 'which must shortly come to pass.' Every matter that is carried on in time has a beginning, a course, and an end.

Now after the rise of the Church, which had already been founded by the preaching of the apostles, it was fitting to reveal how it was to be more widely propagated, or even with what end it would be attended, so that the preachers of the truth, relying on the confidence of this knowledge, might unhesitatingly set upon their task—the few against the many, the unarmed against the armed, the humble against the proud, the weak against the noble, the living against those spiritually dead. Now it is said to be 'shortly' with God, however long anything is prolonged amid the brief delays of this life; to whom the prophet says (Psalm): 'For a thousand years before Your eyes are as yesterday which is past.' 'And He signified the things to be announced through His angel to His servant John, who preached the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, the things which he saw.'

By saying 'He signified,' he indicated something also of things to come and showed forth mysteries, and did not wish us to remain content with the surface of the letter, whom by the word 'signification' He made intent upon searching out the mysteries more deeply. And when he says 'to His servant John,' He willed to reveal to the whole Church in one, which He founded in unity. Therefore he says 'to make openly known to His servants,' not to one only out of many, but rather through one to all—just as Peter alone received the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew), by which power, nevertheless, the whole Church, being exalted, deserved to make use.

Rightly indeed he added that these things were shown to the disciple by Christ 'through His angel,' since it is ever clear that Christ appeared to mortals through an assumed creature, not through the essence of His divinity, both before the Incarnation and after the Ascension; and therefore he who had known Him as master in the manhood He assumed, bore witness to the invisible Word; and lest anyone should think that only the Word was to be understood, he again subjoined the name of Jesus Christ, which he is not ignorant pertains to the form of the manhood assumed. 'Blessed is he who reads and they who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written in it.'

By saying 'he who reads and they who hear,' he pointed out the person of teachers and of learners, so that by the zeal of reading he might remove sloth, and to those who keep the words he might pledge blessedness—to whom those things also which follow are fitting: 'and they keep the things which are written in it'; for to keep belongs to both, is suitable to both. For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified (Romans). 'Because the time is now at hand,' namely that the several things which are to be said may be fulfilled, since the increases of propagation now succeed for the Church already planted; about which, being about to speak, he thus premises: 'John, to the seven Churches which are in Asia.' That is, to one Church, sevenfold.

By the number seven the universality is often figured, because out of the first odd and even, that is, out of three and four, the whole universality is, as it were, composed from diverse elements; for the diversity of soul and body also embraces the very unity of this number. For to the soul three things pertain, to the body four. For it is said (Deuteronomy) that God is to be loved with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with the whole mind; while of the body we have four qualities as its marks: hot and cold, dry and moist. Therefore it is also sung (Psalm): 'Seven times a day I have given praise to You.' Which elsewhere he expresses (Psalm), 'I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be ever in my mouth,' and Wisdom

'built herself a house, she hewed out seven pillars' (Proverbs), and the rest of the passages by which the Church is foretold as destined to possess the circle of the earth, which the same Christ received as one possession into His inheritance. 'I will give You,' He says, 'the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession' (Psalm). Hence it singularly obtains the name 'catholic,' because it alone possesses the whole world by hereditary dignity. These things John now hears, and, being redeemed, hopes by the salutation for everlasting salvation. 'Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.' Although, according to the Apostle (2 Corinthians), 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself,' or as He Himself testifies (John),

(John) 'He who sent Me is with Me,' on account of the unity of one and the same nature—yet this passage is here properly to be referred to the person of the Son. He 'is,' because He remains the same; He 'was,' because with the Father He created all things, He did not take His beginning from the Virgin; He 'is to come' to judge; 'and from the seven spirits which are in the sight of the throne of God.' On account of the sevenfold operation of the Holy Spirit, the sevenfold spiritual gift is so called (Isaiah), that is, of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and piety, and of the fear of the Lord. For the gifts of one Spirit are figuratively commended, when peace and grace are wished from the seven spirits to the devout, 'and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead.'

In the manhood He assumed He bore witness to the Father, the flesh preaching says (John): 'And I have made known to them Your name, and will make it known'; which, showing that it was formerly denied to the Jews, He says (Exodus): 'And My name Adonai I did not reveal to them.' For the Son being believed, the knowledge of the Father is likewise no less revealed; for He would not be called Son unless He had a Father, nor Father unless He had had a Son. And so the one is known by the preaching of the other, because the Father is truly approved in the Son, and the Son in the Father. For 'he who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him' (John). Hence also the same John says in his Epistle: 'He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony of God in himself;'

'he who does not believe the Son makes Him a liar, because he does not believe in the testimony which God has testified concerning His Son' (1 John). 'And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,' who by His suffering also loosed us from sin by His own blood, who, rising again, is by right proclaimed the firstborn from the dead (Colossians), 'and made us a kingdom and priests to God and His Father,' just as Peter the apostle also says: 'a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a chosen generation' (1 Peter), and so on. 'Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him.' For He who first came hidden to be judged, will come manifest to judge; He will be seen by the unbelieving in the flesh in which He willed to suffer, not in the divinity, which remained impassible and invisible.

For this reason he added, 'and they who pierced Him. And every land shall see Him.' All earthly men, or all the wicked in general, especially the Jews, who thought He was to be slain as the least of men, when they shall see Him such as they did not believe Him to be, shall bewail themselves with too-late repentance, and shall mourn at His coming. 'So, Amen': what God most surely knows to be future by revelation, interposing 'Amen,' he confirms as to come without doubt. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty': through whom the ages were made, He is proclaimed to have failed at no time. Hence too He is taught to be Almighty.

'I, John, your brother and partaker in tribulation, and in the kingdom, and in patience in Christ Jesus, was on the island which is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.' That the things we have promised may be proved, he here intimated the place, the time, and the cause. These things—lest he should be thought deluded by a carnal phantasm—he testifies that he was 'in the Spirit' and saw. But those 'whose conversation is in heaven' (Philippians), and 'who live not to themselves, but to Him who died for all and rose again' (2 Corinthians), are to be believed ever to keep the Lord's day. 'And I heard behind me a great voice, like a trumpet, saying to me:'

'What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven Churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.' I think it suits the work undertaken if, though we cannot do all things, we may at least examine the certain names of the seven Churches—what they resound when interpreted in our own tongue—so that when sure indications have become plain to us from their title, the things which follow, being considered in the divine discourse, a fitting sense may be adapted to each of the persons or Churches mentioned. And first it must be done concerning Asia, in which, as in a world, these seven Churches are enumerated. For Asia is interpreted 'elation' (lifting up).

Therefore the whole Church, as though placed in the province of this world, being set in elation, is admonished, that, this same elation being cast off, it may draw near gentle, to be subjected to the mild yoke of Christ; or that what has already begun may make progress by an ampler cultivation of piety. Thus proud Saul is reproved, that he may be gained as humble, when the Lord rebuked Saul, and so far reduced Paul, as it were, to the little (paululum), that he who lately, as a ravening wolf, panted for prey among the disciples of Christ, might devoutly submit his neck also to Ananias (which is interpreted 'sheep'), and, destined to be a master, humble, might undergo the discipleship of the faith to be preached. Ephesus, accordingly, is said to be interpreted 'my will' or 'my counsel.'

Now we know that 'will' is frequently applied for charity, and 'counsel' for the correction of negligence. This, in fine, is what is lacking there, since both the things pleasing to the will, which soothe out of charity, are related, and the things to be amended are threateningly bound with a better counsel. Pergamum is said to be interpreted 'dividing their horns,' or 'cutting down the valleys in speech.' Further, since concerning its angel he showed two kinds of men—in the one holding fast the faith, but in the others holding the doctrine of the Nicolaitans—not without cause he divides between the horns of the righteous and of sinners (which the same name resounds), unless it be that, as we read (Psalm), 'the horns of sinners may be broken, and the horns of the righteous exalted.' 'And cutting down the valley.'

The humility of confession had indeed to be distinguished by the name 'valley,' designated from the ruin of those who are said to be entangled in the doctrines of Satan. For it was fitting that the one should repent of mere negligence, and that the others should be reproached and stung for grave downfall. Sardis is interpreted 'the prince of beauty.' For in that Church he mentions the dignity of the elect, saying: 'They who have not defiled their garment shall walk with Me in white.' Philadelphia is interpreted 'saving him who cleaves to the Lord'; therefore to its angel such a discourse is directed, by which it may know both that it is loved and that it is to be guarded from the hour of temptation. Laodicea is said to be interpreted 'a tribe beloved of the Lord,' or 'they were in vomit.' There he shows what is bestowed there by the gift of divine charity:

and what, by the vice of human elation, may more justly be imputed to those who boasted that they were rich. In fine, the beloved Lord says (Revelation): 'Those whom I love, I rebuke and chastise,' but again he is reproved for lukewarmness, so that, the foulness of transgression being repelled, he may persevere beloved, to whom, when converted, He promises both fine gold tried in the fire and a white garment (Ibid.). But to those who there bear an impenitent heart, they themselves were 'in vomit,' to whom He also says: 'I will begin to vomit you out of My mouth,' so that word and deed may agree with the name. 'And I turned back and looked, that I might see the voice which spoke with me. And I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the candlesticks one like the Son of man.' That is, Christ, who willed rather often to be called by this name.

This Christ is clothed with these very seven candlesticks. Now whether seven candlesticks or seven stars, it is the Church. And rightly 'in the midst.' For 'all' (says Psalm) 'who are round about Him shall offer gifts.' Or as Ezekiel says, 'That the nations may know that I am in the midst of Israel.' But on account of figurative expressions, He tropically divides the cause—the genus into species—so that even in some species the genus alone is found expressed. For in certain places, on account of subtle minutiae and the height of the divine eloquence, the genus cannot clearly be shown, which can more easily be seen than expressed.

But He divides the genus into parts in this manner, that the ark of Noah is the Church, and the eight souls which are within the ark are the Church, since it is one thing; and the man Judah, and she who dwells in Jerusalem, and 'judge between My house and My vineyard,' when Jerusalem and those dwelling in it, and the vineyard of the Lord, are the Church. For thus He concluded, saying: 'For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel' (Isaiah). And in a great house, which is the Church, are 'vessels of gold and silver' (2 Timothy), when these same vessels are the house of God. And again, 'Depart from the midst of her, you who bear the vessels of the Lord,' when those who exist are themselves the vessels; and, 'Who shall dwell in the tabernacle of God? He who is innocent of hands and pure of heart' (Psalm),

when there is no other tabernacle of God on earth than the innocent and pure of heart. So too now, among the seven candlesticks, He distinguished the Church in the Son of man. 'For the two shall be,' says the Apostle (Ephesians), 'in one flesh: but I say, in Christ and in the Church.' And as was said above, in some species the genus is present in a part. Otherwise, He calls Him 'like the Son of man,' since, death being vanquished, He had ascended into heaven, the body of the Church being united, which He says is now the more deservedly seated in heavenly places—not yet in fact, but still in hope—as though the Son of man walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He says 'in the midst' of the Churches, just as He says also in Solomon: 'I will walk in the midst of the path of the righteous.'

Whose antiquity and immortality, the origin of His majesty, is shown by the whiteness in the head; He says He was 'clothed with a garment down to the feet' (poderes), He shows the priesthood. For according to Zechariah the poderes is a priestly vestment. For by the singular sacrifice of His own flesh Christ bore the priesthood, when, offering Himself to the Father upon the gibbet of the cross for us, He permitted Himself to be crucified. 'And He was girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle.' By the breasts He signifies the two Testaments, as we read in the Song of Songs: 'Your two breasts are like two twin fawns that feed among the lilies,' and 'your breasts are like clusters of grapes.' Now in this species the genus can be seen, and be understood in the Testaments of the Churches, so that, as it were, the Testaments may take their comparison from that which they effect.

For the Testaments are not fed, but the Church is nourished through the Testaments. Now the species of this trope are found in the Scriptures, that the doer takes its name from what it does. The breasts, therefore, are the Testaments; the golden girdle is the choir of the saints, who cleave to and embrace the Testaments—or they signify Christ, whom they sing together—but also the charity by which they are knit to one another, keeping, as the Apostle says, 'the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' 'And His head and His hairs were white as white wool, or as snow.'

By the white hairs, exalted and shining with the virtues of righteousness, he means the multitude of the white-robed, whom grace has made whiter than snow, whom he signified by wool because of the sheep that are at the right hand, and by snow because of the innumerable throng of those made white and given to heaven; for they are that Jerusalem which daily descends from heaven, so that those still on pilgrimage sigh as they press on toward her. Or otherwise, by wool because of the holy robe that is fashioned from it, which is rightly understood to be without spot or wrinkle. 'His eyes were as a flame of fire.' By the eyes of the Church he sometimes means the commandments of God, sometimes the spiritual persons, as Solomon says (Prov. VI): 'The commandment is a lamp, and the law a light.'

And concerning spiritual persons the Lord says: 'You are the light of the world' (Matt. V). But that the commandments themselves are fire, he says thus: 'Your word is exceedingly fiery' (Ps. CXVIII); and of Joseph, 'The word of the Lord inflamed him.' Now the fire of the commandments both gives light to the faithful and inflicts burning upon the unbelieving. 'For a fire shall go before Him, and shall burn up His enemies round about.' 'His feet were like fine brass of Lebanon, as from a fiery furnace.' By the fiery feet he means the Church of the last time; for the feet are set as the lowest part of the body. For then the Church is foretold to be proved by the violence of tribulations (Dan. II);

as the stone cut from the mountain struck that statue upon its feet, that is, with its blow it crushed the whole body of the kingdoms of the world. But it struck at the feet for this reason, because it was in the last time. He compared it to fine brass on this account, because it is made from bronze, and when much fire and a compound are applied it is brought to a golden color. And 'of Lebanon,' because the elect: for it is interpreted 'a making white.' And because Lebanon is a mountain in Judea, where near the end of the world it signifies that the body of Christ is tested by persecutions, where also the Lord is believed to have suffered. 'And His voice as the voice of many waters.' By the voice He shows the Church preaching, to whom it is said: 'Cry aloud, cease not' (Isa. LVIII). Now the waters are the many peoples.

But also the gift of baptism, which He sent forth by command through the apostles unto salvation, is rightly understood. Hence the psalm: 'The Lord inhabits the flood' (Ps. XXVIII); and, 'The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of majesty has thundered' (ibid.); and the rest that support this sense. 'And He had in His right hand seven stars.' In the right hand of Christ is the spiritual Church; therefore 'the queen stood at your right hand in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety' (Ps. XLIV), to whom as she stands He says: 'Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom' (Matt. XXV). These seven Churches are the seven stars, which He names by name, not because those alone are the Church:

or the chief ones, but because what He says to one He says to all, who are set in unity, according to the aforesaid form of understanding, by which we said that the universal whole is figured by the sevenfold number. 'And out of His mouth went a two-edged sword.' Therefore twice sharp, because the sword arms the soldier, slays the enemy, and punishes the deserter. Hence the Apostle says (Eph. VI): 'And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.' 'For every scribe instructed,' says the Lord (Matt. XIII), 'is like a householder who brings forth from his treasure things new and old,' namely the New Testament and the Old. From this twin testament, as from a twice-sharpened sword, the Church is now instructed, so that she who is destined for eternal goods may know how to use present ones well.

Girded with this sword, the Apostle says (2 Cor. VI): 'By the weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.' 'And His face shone as the sun in its strength.' By His splendor he means the manifest presence in the flesh, by which He spoke to men face to face (Exod. XXXIII). Now the comparison with the sun is employed on account of a fitting signification: because of its rising and setting and rising again, since He was born and suffered and rose again. But the Lord also promises to His Church a likeness of the sun's glory to come, saying: 'Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of my Father' (Matt. XIII).

In comparison with this, the brightness of Christ the Head is to be understood as far more sublime, since He Himself is the brightness of the righteous, which after the resurrection He therefore hid from His disciples, lest they should be unable either to recognize or to bear Him. But this ought not to be recognized or called blindness, but a certain invisibility, which in Greek is more fitly named. Through this the army did not recognize Elisha (2 Kings VI), nor did the raging people recognize the door, though they saw everything besides it. Finally, on the mountain they were unable to endure a semblance of this glorification. 'And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.' John, who saw these things, bears the figure of the whole Church. But also the individual apostles and prophets, who say:

'For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.' The Church therefore is as one dead to the world before the Lord Christ. 'And He laid His right hand upon me.' Assuredly on account of the priesthood, by which we know that those set over the Church are ordained, or because the whole body is that of one priest, saying: 'Fear not, John, I am the first and the last.' The first, because all things were made through Him (John I); the last, because in Him all things are restored, 'and the living One, because I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever.' The whole sum and hope of consolation is shown, when it is said to him who lies dead, 'Fear not,' as in the Gospel, 'Be of good cheer,' He says (John XVI), 'for I have overcome the world.' 'I am the living One who was dead.'

For the Head of the body truly promises a like hope of resurrection, whose precedence is the hope and the contest of the good. 'And I have the keys of death and of hell,' that is, of the devil and of his whole body, signifying him himself by the name of death; and 'of hell,' in which he reigns. All these do not escape the power of divine judgment, as it were a key. And to the Church He says: 'In me you have the keys of death, which received from me you rightly possess. You who are as one dead, because—though the Church still journeys as a pilgrim—the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit lives because of justification' (Rom. VIII). Yet she has received the power to loose and to bind in her God;

whether when she dispenses all things with commendable judgment, or when in those who receive, faith is hindered by no obstacle of unbelief. 'To whomever,' He says (John XX), 'you forgive sins, they shall be forgiven them; whose sins you retain, they shall be retained.' 'Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which must come to pass hereafter: the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and of the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven Churches.' But the seven candlesticks also are the Churches. He said that the stars are the angels of the Churches, and the candlesticks the Churches: which things are to be diligently considered. For if there is one sevenfold Church, as it is described (Cant.

VI): 'My dove is one, my perfect one is one,' the angels also will not be seven. For if there are seven, only those which He specially named have angels, but the rest do not have them. Nor is it to be thought that in this place angels are assigned to individual men, which is incongruously supposed by some: but rather by the angels of the Churches are here to be understood the rulers of the people, who, presiding over the individual Churches, announce the word of life to all. For 'angel' is said to be interpreted 'messenger.' CHAPTER II. 'And to the angel of the Church of Ephesus write.' He set it here in the dative case, 'to the angel,' not in the genitive. As if he should say:

'Write to this angel of the Church,' so that he may seem to have spoken not so much of the angel and the Church separately, as of who the angel is that he wished to explain, making, that is, one person of the angel and the Church. For although by the dispensation of the mystery he is set before them, yet he is joined by the unity of the joined structure. For keeping this rule from the beginning, he would not have written to seven angels, but to seven Churches: 'John,' he says, 'to the seven Churches which are in Asia,' and the Lord whom he saw said, 'Write in a book the things which you have seen, and send them to the seven Churches.' Yet afterward He commands them to be written to the angels, so as to show that they are one. But even if He proclaims some things to the individual Churches in particular, it is taught that they generally suit the whole Church. For He does not say:

'What the Spirit says to the Church,' but 'to the Churches.' Signifying therefore the Church by the angel, he shows in it two parts, since he both praises and rebukes. But in what follows it is made manifest that he does not rebuke the same one whom he praises, just as the Lord in the Gospel (Luke XII; Matt. XXIV) called the whole body of those set over others one servant, both blessed and wicked, whom the Lord at His coming will Himself divide, and will appoint not the whole servant, but a part of him, he says, with the hypocrites. Beginning therefore to show the internal wars and the diverse works of the sevenfold Church, present and to come, He did not say, 'Write the things which are,' but, 'The things which must come to pass,' foretelling that until the end of the world the evil are mingled with the good in the Church:

which without doubt is to be embraced for the good, yet is not to be deserted because of the evil. 'To the angel of the Church of Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand,' the same who holds you in His hand and rules and contains you by His own power, 'who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks,' that is, in the midst of you. 'I know your works and labor and endurance, and that you cannot bear evil men, and you have tried those who say they are apostles and are not, and you have found them liars, and you have had patience, and have borne for my name's sake, and have not fainted.' 'You have tried them,' He says. They are not tried unless they are within. For those who are without, without any trial are manifestly without, nor is there need for them to be tried:

lest they be within who are outside—those who are recognized as schismatics not only by their fruits but also by their dwelling place. Now it is not a matter of praise that He said he could not bear the evil, but a sign of weakness; but the praise lies in this, that He said: 'You cannot, and yet you have endured weakness for my name's sake,' for distinguishing it from long-suffering, He does not say that this endures through human failure, but that it endures those things which of itself it could not, being supported for God's name by the strength of patience. To this end also it is said that he cannot bear the evil, so that he might not imitate those he has recognized; but to this end that he has endured, lest by deserting he himself be rendered alien from the bond of unity. For he is judged reprobate who, because of open evildoers, deserts also the hidden good.

Moreover He inveighs against a part of the angel, saying: 'But I have against you, that you have left your first love.' Far be it that He should rebuke him whom before He praised; but retaining the aforesaid rule, He teaches that the Church on pilgrimage bears the worst mingled with the best. One therefore is he who deserts the love he had begun; another is he who is said even toward the evil to keep patience for God's name: to the one, in short, it is said, 'You have patience, and have not fainted'; to the other, 'Remember whence you have fallen, and do penance, and do the first works. But if not, I will come to you quickly, and will move your candlestick out of its place, unless you do penance.' Here He says He will move the candlestick of him whom He invites to do penance.

What the angel is, that also the candlestick is, whose part He says He does not take away, but moves out of its place, signifying him who, although he is not cut off from the Church until he is separated by the winnowing-fan of the last judgment, has yet lost his own salvation and all the light of the candlestick: and though he may seem honored with spiritual gifts, he is nevertheless known to be dead to himself. For what lives in him is another's. Again He speaks well to a part: 'But this you have good, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate,' that is, idolatry and fornication, as He afterward shows. Teaching thereupon all the Churches, He says: 'He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.'

'To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life,' that is, of the fruit of the cross, which is, He says, 'in the paradise of my God.' The paradise also can be understood as the Church, for all things were done in a figure, and Adam, as the Apostle teaches (Rom. V), went before as a shadow of Him who was to come. But the tree of life is the Wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who hung upon the cross, who both in the Church and in the spiritual paradise offers to the faithful the vital nourishment and the sacrament of the heavenly bread, of which we read (Prov. III): 'Wisdom is life to those who embrace her.' 'And to the angel of the Church of Smyrna write: These things says the first and the last, who was dead and lives: I know your tribulations and poverty, but you are rich.'

He speaks to the whole Church, which is poor in spirit and possesses all things, whence the Apostle (2 Cor. VI): 'As having nothing and possessing all things.' 'And you are blasphemed by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.' Here too it is shown that He does not speak to a particular Church only, because it was not at Smyrna only that there were or are blaspheming Jews. Now the name of Jews can here be understood in a twofold manner, either the Jews openly outside, or those placed within, that is, false Christians. For the name of Jew is a religious name, whence the Apostle (Rom. II): 'He is a Jew,' he says, 'who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter.' And again (Phil. III):

'For we are the circumcision, who serve God in the spirit, having no confidence in the flesh': yet these too ought not to be deserted, though they are called even a synagogue of Satan, since we know (John XIII) that the Lord, by bearing with Judas even to the end, gave us an example of patience. 'Fear none of those things which you are about to suffer.' Assuredly He forewarns the whole Church that it should in no way fear the whole body of the devil. 'Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days.' These things said suit the universal Church, against which the devil ever exercises inextricable enmities.

And therefore in ten days is signified the course of the present life, on account of the Decalogue, in which the sum of the law briefly consists: for here are the necessary divine commandments, where there is need of self-control. Hence the divine word (Matt. V): 'Agree with your adversary,' that is, the law, 'while you are with him in the way' of this world, signifying, that is, the whole time, when against the various enticements of desires the battle is waged with the law instructing us, so that by the grace of God, the five carnal senses being subdued—which, because of the twofold sense, are doubled and make ten—the victory may be gained. 'Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.' 'He that endures unto the end, the same shall be saved' (Matt. XXIV).

'He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.' The eating of the forbidden tree (Gen. II, III) procured this for posterity. But Christ, from the sanctuary of His side, with water and blood flowing forth, watering the wood of the cross, thence made the firstfruits of salvation to sprout up from the very place whence He knew the original evil had arisen, saying: 'Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.' Wherefore if anyone overcomes, in Him he shall be able to overcome. 'And to the angel of the Church of Pergamos write: These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword.' Concerning the twice-sharp sword enough has been said. 'I know where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is.' He speaks to the whole Church, because everywhere that tempter is, to whom it is said:

'She shall watch your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel' (Gen. III). For the world is set in wickedness. The throne of Satan is the men whom he wickedly possesses. He returns to the particular, because although the whole sevenfold Church is figured in these seven places, yet things were done in these particularly which He praises or rebukes. 'And you hold my name, and have not denied my faith. In those days Antipas my witness and faithful one, who was slain among you.' Among many also Christ is slain, whether by those who do not believe He rose again, or because in themselves they deny Him by damnable vices, where Satan dwells. 'But I have a few things to say against you.' Assuredly against other members to be blamed, not those to whom He says:

'And you have not denied my faith. You have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam' (Num. XXIV), 'who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the eyes of the children of Israel, to eat of sacrifices and to commit fornication.' These are the two principal things by whose enjoyment the hypocrites serve: to eat and to fornicate, as the Lord says: 'But within you are full of rapine and incontinence and all iniquity' (Luke XI; Matt. XXIII). Idolatry is spiritual fornication. 'You have destroyed,' he says (Ps. LXXII), 'all those who fornicate away from you.' 'Likewise you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans': likewise do penance. 'But if not, I will come to you quickly, and will fight against you with the sword of my mouth.'

That is, by the sword of the mouth, it ought to be understood of the Church, according to the preceding form of understanding. Now the sword is the precepts of both testaments, by which the despisers are divinely vanquished. 'For whoever have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law' (Rom. II). 'He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: To him that overcomes I will give of that hidden manna,' that is, of the invisible bread, which came down from heaven, who therefore became man, that man might eat the bread of angels (John VI). In figure of this, that manna in the wilderness went before, which because they ate, they are declared by the Lord to be dead, because they remained unbelieving.

Of this hidden and spiritual manna in particular, which promises immortality to the faithful, they did not eat, since He says (ibid.): 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have eternal life in you.' For those who even then could be spiritually fed by that food, merited to attain the same immortality, as Moses and the rest. For they ate the same spiritual food, as the Apostle teaches (1 Cor. X), because the visible manna did not harm them who used the bodily food spiritually. Just as neither will the spiritual manna of the Lord's body profit the men of the present time, if they receive it unworthily, because they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

'And I will give him a white stone,' that is, adoption into a son of God (1 Cor. XI). For the stone is a precious gem, which is to be understood after the manner of that pearl which the merchant finding, sold all and purchased it (Matt. XIII). Another translation, indeed, put 'pearl.' 'And upon the stone a new name, which the mouth of the Lord has named.' Otherwise, upon baptism and martyrdom, which 'no one,' He says, 'knows except him who receives it.' For the hypocrites, though they may seem to have the surface so far, yet cannot penetrate the very power of understanding (Isa. LXII). 'Having,' he says, 'the form of piety, but denying the power thereof.' Hence the same John (1 John II):

'He who says that he knows Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.' 'And to the angel of the Church which is at Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: I know your works, and love, and faith, and ministry, and patience, and your last works more than the first.' Here it is more fully declared that in the one body of the Church both the part of the good is soothed with praise, and that of the evil is reproached with rebukes. Where He both approves by praising the works together with love, faith, ministry, and patience, and moreover says that the last are amplified beyond the first by increase. 'But I have many things against you, that you allow your wife Jezebel' (1 Kings XVI),

'who calls herself a prophetess, and you allow her to teach and to seduce my servants, to fornicate and to eat of sacrifices.' The angel, that is, the Church, is a general name; but the quality of what is said shows to whom the discourse suits: what part, what species, what office suits the angel, and how from a part of one body it passes from a part or from a figure to the proper meaning, and returns from the proper meaning to the figure. These things were done, and it is conjectured that a woman particularly existed in the aforesaid Church, from whose particular figure the discourse of Jezebel is now figuratively transferred to the general figure of the whole world. The angel therefore, that is, the Church—since it still consists of good and reprobate—is here recognized in a twofold manner:

but because it has both those set over it and the peoples, therefore in the angel is signified the office of the preachers, just as when we relate that a man has performed some work, by the account of our discourse the quality of the individual members is announced and shown; so that if, for example, we say that he has seen or spoken words, we without doubt refer the one to the eyes, the other to the tongue, which is proved to suit this person of the angel, since indeed the angel is known to be a messenger, to whom, as to a watchman, it belongs both to see the things to be corrected and to announce the things to be kept; thus through the other named works the offices of the members are signified.

When therefore He now praises the works greater than the first, He brings in generally the person of all; and because among those set in office there are also negligent ones, therefore He subjoins that Jezebel permits fornication, and from the class of the saints, to whom power is divinely given of permitting or restraining, He therefore passes to the whole Church, thereby constituting the one set over them guilty—not because he himself did it, but because he permitted it to be done, and by permitting became a partaker in the transgressions—wherefore He follows, saying: 'I gave her time that she might do penance, and she would not repent of her fornication.' He did not say, 'I gave to you' or 'to you' (singular); or is not he who consents to a fornicator himself a fornicator?

But because He passes from the species to the genus, therefore He so shows the saints to be strangers to this crime, that through the reproach of the evil He may ever wish them to remain solicitous for the members, though what their right hand does the left hand does not know—which we easily recognize if we spiritually distinguish the flocks from the shepherds, and the lower members from the more eminent, or fit each to its own times. Now the fornication of Jezebel, being general, foreshadowed both bodily and spiritual adultery, when under the name of Christ she spoke of fornication and idolatry. 'For you have destroyed,' he says, 'all those who fornicate away from you.'

'Behold, I cast her into a bed, and those who committed adultery with her into very great tribulation, unless they repent of their works.' The bed here is given to be understood as the security of the offenders, which the vile and shameful promise to themselves through the impurity of their crimes, when, sinning, they have not experienced the vengeance of present wrath, and so far neglect penance until sudden destruction comes upon them, like the pain of one giving birth, and they shall not escape. Now it is said to be given by God in this neglect of security, when they are deserted by a hidden yet not unjust judgment. Concerning this security we read elsewhere (Prov. I): 'The turning away of the little ones shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.'

Another translation put 'mourning' for 'bed,' by which it designated eternal misery, 'unless they repent of their works. And I will kill her children with death.' By 'children' here we recognize the power and works of the woman to be figured; but by 'death' He threatens not the momentary death of the body, but the eternal death of the soul. For those excesses, being mentioned and corrected by no penance, apostolic authority often testifies that not temporal discipline but eternal punishment is owed. For they are not of the number of those of whom it is said: 'He scourges every son whom He receives' (Heb. XII), but of those to whom it is said: 'O Israel, now I will not be angry with you'; and, 'My zeal has departed from you' (Ezek. XVI).

Not that they had obtained propitiation, but because they will be judged unworthy to be scourged temporally. 'And all the Churches shall know that I am the searcher of reins and hearts' (Jer. XVII). Do not the Churches know, before He betrays the adulterers and slays them, that God is the searcher of reins and hearts? Or how can it be said to the Church, 'You shall know,' and she not from the beginning of her faith have known God to be the knower of hidden things? Not therefore by the experience of events, but by sure faith it is to be held that He punishes with death not the manifest but the hidden idolaters and adulterers. For He says these are to be smitten with eternal damnation. 'And I will give to every one of you according to your works.' Now He no longer rebukes the whole for a part, but the whole for the whole, since He promises to each their own.

'For each one,' says the Apostle (Gal. VI), 'shall bear his own burden.' And turning to the good part of the same angel He says: 'But to you I say, the rest who are at Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say.' 'You have not known' is put in place of, as if He should say, 'you have approved by no consent.' For the Lord also perhaps testifies that He does not know those whom He has not received into His discipline. There follows: 'I will not put upon you any other burden, but that which you have, hold fast until I come.' That is, I will not lay upon you the burdens of the law, of which the Apostle says (Gal. V): 'Stand fast, and do not again be held under the yoke of bondage.' Therefore hold fast the light burden or the light yoke of Christ (Matt.

XI), which through the Spirit of adoption is made light, under which, willing us to persevere, He says: 'But that which you have, hold fast until I come.' 'And he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and as the vessel of a potter they shall be broken, as I also received from my Father.' In Christ the Church has this power as the body in the head. For if any worthily has cleaved to His body, she is truly said to have what the Son possessed by hereditary right, in whom (according to the Apostle) God has given us all things. The rod of iron, wholly inflexible justice, rules the meek, destroys the obstinate. 'And I will give him the morning star.'

The morning star it is fitting to understand both as Christ and as the first resurrection, because He, appearing, both drove away the darkness of errors, and, as the resurrection hastens, the darkness of the worldly night shall be put to flight. For this star seems to offer both the end of the night and the beginning of the day. CHAPTER III. 'To the angel of the Church which is at Sardis, write: These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead. Be watchful and steadfast, and confirm the rest which were about to die. For I do not find your works full before my God. Remember how you have received, and keep what you have heard, and do penance.' 'You have a name,' He says, 'that you are alive, and you are dead.'

Let it not be said except to one who has committed a mortal crime. He does not say, 'Confirm the things which were about to die,' except to him who, still having some living things in his office, is permitted not to remain in the death of sin. For he cannot be confirmed who has lost the office of teacher. 'I do not find your works full before my God.' For it is not enough for a tree to live and to be green, yet not to have the due fruits. He also commends penance for preceding faults. 'But if you do not do penance, I will come and will rouse my coming to you; as a thief I will come, and you shall not know at what hour I will come to you.' For if you are negligent at the very voice, the unforeseen hour of calling will forestall you. There follows:

'Yet you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they have walked with me in white, for they are worthy.' Great is the praise of the few who among the defiled evil ones remain unspotted in their garments by the continual brightness of virtues, to whose habit God calls, saying: 'He that overcomes shall be so clothed in a white garment.' The few holy ones assuredly knew that there was in their midst a multitude of the defiled; yet themselves remaining unspotted, they groaned as Ezekiel (Ezek. IX) and mourned over the iniquity which was done in their midst. 'And I will not blot out his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels.' As in the Gospel (Matt. X):

'I too,' He says, 'will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.' And in Luke 10: 'Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.' 'To the angel of the Church which is in Philadelphia, write: These things says the holy and true one, who holds the key of David' — that is, royal power. He calls it the key of David either because Christ was born of David's stock, or because David himself foretold many things concerning Christ. By whose dispensation, as by a key, the hidden things of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms were laid open, as He Himself testifies when He says in Luke 24: 'It is necessary that all things be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.' 'Who opens, and no one shuts; and who shuts, and no one opens.'

The secrets of the divine Law are opened by the power of Christ alone — opened to the faithful, shut to unbelievers; and when He looses, none can shut; when He binds, none can loose. 'Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut, because you have but little strength.' The door which Christ opens then began to be unlocked for the Church, when He opened the understanding of His disciples that they might grasp the Scriptures (Luke 24). This is barred by no one's force, since through their preaching it now lies open throughout the whole world. Whence the Apostle says (1 Corinthians 16): 'A great door is opened to us in the Lord, and the adversaries are many.'

But when He says, 'You have little strength, and you have kept my word, and have not denied my name,' He shows the reason why the Church merits these gifts: because she trusts not in her own strength, and, confessing that she has but small strength, glories not in herself but as one redeemed in the Lord. 'Behold, I will give some from the synagogue of Satan, from those who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and worship before your feet, and they shall know that I have loved you, because you have kept the word of my patience.' This new thing He then promised to the Church of Philadelphia only; for He foretells the remaining time, and especially that near the end of the world, when the Jews, believing in Christ, shall be joined to His Church, which truly says (Psalm 56):

'The strangers are made subject to me.' For concerning the Jews the Apostle also says (Romans 11) that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved. 'And you shall know that I have loved you' — namely when I shall have made the Jews, who once boasted of their noble lineage, humble in the faith and subject to you; and you shall recognize, and they themselves shall recognize, what kind of love I show toward you. For many of the Jews come to the Church, saying, as it is written: 'Put me into one of your priestly offices, that I may eat bread.' 'Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which is to come upon the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth.'

Although the Church is unceasingly exercised by inward and outward conflict, and though — whether individuals in particular, or the whole in general — she is here assailed by various temptations, so too the time of the coming Antichrist is signified, from whom Christ the Lord promises that He will deliver the whole Church which stands firm in its own, so that the temptation of ruin may be recognized as deception. 'I come quickly; hold fast what you have, lest anyone else take your crown.' Here, with utterly astonishing consideration, we recognize the number of the elect, whom He calls apostles, called according to His purpose.

Those whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son — showing that to this number none can be added nor any taken away, since He speaks of that man losing his own crown in such a way that another comes to receive it. Whence it is understood that no other can succeed, if he who held it should guard it with persevering faith. Thus too the pride of the Jews was frustrated, who gloried in the stock of Abraham. 'For God is able,' He says (Matthew 3), 'from these stones to raise up children to Abraham' — so that the sure promise might stand by gift, and carnal boasting be made void in the race. 'He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.' A pillar befits buildings both for strength and for adornment;

so too the conquerors of the world stand eminent in the Church by the gift of dignity, and bear it by the office of charity. 'And he shall go out no more,' He says. The younger son had gone out (Luke 15), that is, the people of the Gentiles; but reconciled and redeemed by the death of that fatted calf, that is, by the blood of Christ, he goes out no more — indeed, one whom the King brought into His chamber (Song of Songs 3), and by however many battering-rams of schisms or persecutions he may be shaken, he is not moved. 'For the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal (2 Timothy 2): The Lord knows those who are His.' So here also: 'I will write upon him the name of my God' — because, namely, we are called sons of God by adoption (Romans 8),

(Romans 8) 'and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven from my God, and my own new name.' The inscription of the name suggests the eminence of dignity and the vision of peace. For Jerusalem is interpreted (Hebrews) as 'vision of peace.' 'New,' however, because of the newness of life in which we are commanded to walk. Yet this name of Christ, which is above every name (Philippians 2), did not accrue to the Son of God in time so that it should be thought called 'new' for that reason, since He always remained coeternal with the Father in the same brightness, of which He says to Him (John 17): 'which I had with you before the world was.' But it is 'new' on account of the human nature, in which He willed both to die, and, having died, rose again; hence through the prophet (Isaiah 43): 'Behold,' He says, 'I make all things new which now shall spring forth';

and the Apostle (2 Corinthians 5): 'Old things have passed away; behold, all things are made new.' Hence too we have deserved to be reckoned by the Christian name. 'To the angel of the Church of Laodicea write: These things says He who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness.' That here 'Amen' is placed, I think we should note; for 'Amen,' when interpreted, means 'true' or 'faithfully.' Whence in this place it must without doubt be referred to that essence of the Godhead of which God, speaking to Moses, says (Exodus 3): 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: He who is has sent me to you.' For He truly is, who is ever the same. But because in the one person of Christ the assumed humanity was also to be proclaimed, He consequently says (chapter 3): 'the beginning of the creation of God.'

For 'the beginning of the creation of God' is fittingly understood to mean Christ the Lord on account of the mystery of the Incarnation, of whose person we read written (Proverbs 8): 'The Lord created me, the beginning of His ways'; and the Apostle (Hebrews 10): 'Having confidence in the entrance into the holy places by the blood of Christ, who has initiated for us a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh, and a great priest,' etc. For He Himself is the way who is the fatherland; He Himself the author of faith who is also its consummator; He Himself the Alpha and the Omega, He the beginning whom none precedes, He the end whom none succeeds in the kingdom. 'I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; would that you were cold or hot! But because you are lukewarm, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.'

Here can be recognized the persons of certain nobles of this world, whom He therefore says to be neither hot nor cold, but rather lukewarm: because, although such abundance of riches flows around them, they are nevertheless found barren in works of piety, nor are they kindled to good works by any regard of compassion. Therefore the poor too are said to be neither cold nor fervent, who neither abound in riches — by using which the lukewarm grow torpid — nor, by not sharing them with the needy, are they justly marked as lacking the fervor of good works. But it can also here signify the person of those with whom, within the chamber, the Scriptures are handled, but outwardly it is unknown whether they are faithful; and, presuming confidently and securely, they are found empty of works.

Therefore He says they are neither cold nor fervent, that is, neither unbelieving nor faithful. And because by such lukewarmness both kinds cause Him nausea: 'I will vomit you,' He says, 'out of my mouth'; but because it is the time of repentance, let them not flatter themselves with the false name of the rich and powerful, whose poverty and blindness and nakedness is rebuked, but let them hear Him who counsels them and promises true riches, namely knowledge. For it befits both that they be not vomited out from His inmost bowels. Now let them buy for themselves gold, of which He speaks (Proverbs 16): 'Receive wisdom as gold, and knowledge as choice silver.'

If they have been able to draw anything from the fountains of the divine Scriptures as from a radiant light of wisdom, let them perfect it in the very work — whether those from the bounty of substance, with bowels of piety enkindled, or these formed spiritually by the learning of knowledge. For it is written (Proverbs 13): 'The redemption of a man's soul is his riches.' But of the latter (2 Timothy 3): 'From your infancy you have known the sacred writings, which are able to instruct you unto salvation which is in Christ Jesus.' And well did He say 'gold refined,' on account of the pressure of persecution, which, if it should befall them to undergo for Christ, let them choose devoutly to take up.

For such persons, converted from the great disaster of lukewarmness by a profitable compunction, could be fruitful not only to themselves but also to others, and become themselves gold purged and refined alike by the fire of tribulation. 'That you may be rich,' He says, 'and be clothed in white raiment, and that the shame of your nakedness may not appear in you; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve that you may see': those destitute of the works of righteousness He marks as naked, whom He also convicts of blindness. But he is clothed with white garments who is clothed with the baptism of Christ, and is strong in that faith which works through love (Galatians 5). 'For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ' (Romans/Galatians). But when He says the eyes are to be anointed with eye-salve, He admonishes that the heart is to be inclined toward the divine testimonies (Galatians).

For 'the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes' (Psalm 18). 'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.' 'For He scourges every son whom He receives' (Hebrews 12). Therefore believe and do penance. He shows that there were in Laodicea those who were to be imitated in praiseworthy fashion, and others to be corrected. 'Behold, I stand before the door and knock; if perhaps anyone shall hear my voice and open to me the gate.' The door, surely, of the heart, for receiving Christ through faith and obedience to His precepts. There follows: 'I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me on my throne.' Hence the Lord also (John 14): 'If anyone,' He says, 'loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.'

'To him who conquers I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sit with my Father on His throne.' He calls him a fellow-sitter, a sharer of power and of judgment, concerning which John says (John 1): 'He gave them power to become sons of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' And (Matthew 19): 'You shall sit with me on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' 'He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.' Here it is fitting that the ears of the heart be understood, unto obedience to the commandments.

He shows, moreover, that the things He was individually enjoining upon each Church by name, He now generally assigns to all the Churches to be proclaimed; and having described the works of the Church, what she was and of what sort she ought to be foretold as being in the future, He, recapitulating the nativity of Christ, is about to say the same things in another way. Chapter 4. 'Afterward,' he says, 'I saw.' After that very vision he records that he saw another. It is not that the time of the events is different, but the time of the visions; just as if someone should narrate one thing in various ways, the narrations will have a different time, not the thing which was done at one time; so he repeats the whole time of the Church, to be narrated under various figures. 'Behold,' he says, 'a door opened in heaven.'

By the opened door he means Christ, born and having suffered and been raised, who is the gate, as He Himself says: 'I am the door.' By heaven he means the Church, in that she is the dwelling of God, where heavenly things are transacted. This is what we ask: that as the will of God is done in heaven, so it may be done on earth (Matthew 6). Sometimes, however, he calls heaven and earth and the Church one (Luke 11), on account of the earth which stands also as heaven — whether when unbelievers are won by the right preachings of the faithful, or when the flesh is subjected to the spirit, or when earthly things reconciled are joined to the heavenly. 'Behold, that first voice which I heard, as of a trumpet speaking with me: Come up here,' he says, 'and I will show you the things that must come to pass after these.' The voice is preaching; therefore it is said (Isaiah 58):