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):
'Lift up your voice like a trumpet.' It is an ascent when, with contempt of the world, each one is either compelled or made worthy to come to the Church. And from the valley of weeping one ascends to the summit of this dignity; hence we read (Isaiah 2): 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways.' But the faithful too are invited to ascend to heaven, when they are commanded to seek and savor not the things that are upon the earth, but the heavenly. For when any untutored one in the Church is taught that Christ suffered, rose again and ascended to the Father, and when anyone spiritually instructed and a teacher over these things contemplates the same One according to the form of God, he is said in part to ascend as a righteous man, about to behold the entrusted secrets of the mysteries.
Hence the Lord (John 20): 'Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father' — by 'touch' willing belief to be understood. 'Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, I saw a throne set in heaven, and one seated upon the throne. And He who sat was like in appearance to jasper,' etc. These comparisons befit the Church, with which (thus) the Lord is clothed. I think the color of jasper signifies water, and the sardine fire, by which two things we know that judgment is celebrated: first through the flood, but at the end of the world through fire. 'And there was a rainbow,' he says, 'around the throne, like in appearance to an emerald.' The rainbow, since after the flood it went before as a token of security, is now fittingly adapted to the Church for propitiating God.
For when the rain-bearing clouds have been irradiated by the splendor of the sun, they render the appearance of a rainbow; and in comparison with this, when the souls of the saints have been illumined by the Sun of righteousness, which is Christ, the Godhead deigns to be propitiated by their intercession. 'And around the throne were twenty-four seats, on which sat twenty-four elders, clothed in white raiment, and on their heads golden crowns.' By the elders he means the whole Church, as through Isaiah (Isaiah 24): 'The Lord has reigned in Zion and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of His elders.'
But by the twenty-four he comprehended both the leaders and the peoples together, as it were doubling the twelve tribes of Israel, on account of the twin Testament; for in both the Old and the New the same Church is formed — that is, since He showed the Church in the twelve apostles, namely the whole body of leaders, just as we also find in the description of the city Jerusalem coming down from heaven (Revelation 21). These twenty-four thrones, apart from the distribution of offices, are twelve, because the leaders too are promoted from the twelve tribes. But the twelve thrones, apart from the mystical number, are one throne, that is, the Church. For the Lord Christ alone is to sit for judging;
but He shall sit on the seat, that is, the Church, judging the twelve tribes: yet in Christ, in whom she is wholly contained, the members shall also sit and judge — but as one and through one Head. Otherwise, the twenty-four elders can be understood as those who by clear preaching of the Gospel bring to consummation the perfection which is commended by the number six; for four times six make twenty-four. 'And from their throne go forth lightnings and voices and thunders.' By thunders and voices, the preaching of the truth; by lightnings are figured the marks of miracles, as in the Gospel (Mark 16): 'And they,' he says, 'going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.' And likewise (Psalm 76):
'The voice of your thunder was in the wheel; your lightnings appeared to the world.' For by these precepts thundering as it were in the clouds, and by miracles flashing forth, the world, made to tremble, feared and believed. 'And seven bowls of fire were burning before the throne. Those seven bowls are the seven Spirits of God.' Were He not to expound it Himself, it would befit us to understand the Holy Spirit in these seven burning bowls — whether because He was infused into the apostles in the form of fiery tongues, or on account of His memorable sevenfold working: how much more now, when He Himself has added, saying: 'which are the seven Spirits of God'!
But where could the Holy Spirit more fittingly be said to be present than at the time of baptism, when we believe that each of the faithful duly receives Him — which now the mention seemingly made of the waters signifies? For this follows, when he says: 'And before the throne a sea of glass, like crystal.' By the glassy sea is understood baptism, where with the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10); for on account of faith it is referred to glass; for nothing else is seen outwardly in glass than what it carries within. Nor is it without purpose that he commends this baptism to be before the throne, except because heretics too can have or give this outwardly. So then he says (Exodus 33):
'Before the throne,' as we read it said to Moses: 'There is a place with me.' Or He Himself forewarns in Deuteronomy, saying (Deuteronomy 12, 14, 16, 26): 'In the place which the Lord your God shall choose, that His name may dwell there' — by all which we know the singular unity of the Church is declared, where the baptism of the Trinity can be had unto salvation, which one born of dew has unto destruction: not because that which is given is evil, but because he to whom it is given uses it ill, like the morsel handed by the Lord's hand to Judas (John 13). But that another edition rendered the glassy sea to be 'before the seat,' in the seat can wholesomely be prefigured the throne of the future judgment.
And so we have seen that before the time of judgment the remedy of saving baptism is granted, so that the coming judgment may find men not guilty and naked, but justified and armed. For who would be saved, if God, before baptism was granted, willed to forestall the world with judgment? By crystal is figured pure water and a stable belief, which is not carried about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4), since it has in Christ foundations firmly joined beneath, who founded the earth upon the waters (Psalm 24). 'And in the midst of the throne and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.'
The four living creatures are the four evangelists, to whom, on account of a distinctive property eminent in the narrative of each, a special characteristic seems to be fitted, as some have wished: to Matthew that of a man, to Mark that of a lion, to Luke that of an ox, to John that of an eagle. But since the Gospel of all is one, therefore four are principally displayed, on account of the four rivers of paradise, by which the whole world is said to be watered, just as by the preaching of these the whole world is believed to be instructed. Indeed the Church is often taken to be paradise. The living creatures are said to have eyes before and behind for this reason: either because they are full of the lights of knowledge, or because they perfectly contain all the sacraments of the New and Old Testament.
For the faith which is set forth in the twin Testament is fulfilled in the sight of all times. When therefore what before befitted only the Old Testament, and what shone forth revealed when the New succeeded, and what is known to be hoped for through their teaching — the living creatures are in every way, as it were, proven by flashing, by lights. For to the past time, as things prior, the promised dispensation of Christ the Lord is assigned, which, as it is read foretold by the prophets, is also thoroughly taught as accomplished; to the present belong the increases of belief and the growths of the Churches; to the future, the separation of the good and the evil, since we believe the just are to be appointed unto life, the impious unto punishment (Matthew 25).
By these too we know the concord of both Testaments is prefigured, when the later things are proven by the same eyes with the earlier — that is, the new with the old — which are shown alike to shine forth and to harmonize among themselves with the full truth of faith; when, for example, in the Old Testament, the lamb having been slain and fifty days completed, the law is given unto fear, written by the finger of God on tablets of stone (Exodus 19, 20, 24, 31). Now, when our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5), that is, according to John (John 1), 'the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,' the fifty days completed, He sends to the disciples from heaven the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1), whom in the sacred pages we often read named the finger of God (Exodus).
(Exodus 8:15) — through whom, the ancient hardness of the stony heart being removed (Luke 11), charity is given, by which fear is at once driven outside (1 John 4), so that the law which before had been difficult for the weak might be fulfilled. For 'the charity of God is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us' (Romans 5); by whose working God is worshiped freely, no longer from fear of punishment, but from love of righteousness. For even our very Head — when we solemnly proclaim that He suffered, rose again, now sits at the Father's right hand, and shall come as judge — with these, as with the lights of the four living creatures, the Church is irradiated.
He who, while the evangelists preach, comes to know all these things, also teaches and admonishes the attentive reader, in that he mentions the living creatures both in the midst of the throne and around the throne — the same four living creatures; as if he were to say: In the midst of the Church, the Gospel, and around the circuit of the world, the Church bearing fruit — that is, the Gospel; because, although the number of preachers increases, nevertheless the truth of the one Gospel is changed by no one's novel diversity. For the same thing perseveres by growing in the world, which remains inviolate in its origin, that is, in the midst of the throne and around the throne.
Likewise, when he had said above that he saw one seated upon the throne, and around the throne twenty-four seats, on which sat twenty-four elders clothed in white raiment, he subsequently says: 'in the midst of the throne and around the throne, four living creatures.' For since he wishes us to recognize one thing by 'the one seated,' another by 'the elders,' another by 'the four living creatures' through the diversity of terms, yet by the name of the one throne he seems to blend all in one place, where it is understood that the Gospels are in the elders, and the elders in the Gospels; for neither can be separated from the other;
for thus the living creatures could be around the seat, where he had already said the elders were, and also in the midst of the throne — namely in the body of Christ, which is the Church — where sound doctrine permits neither the elders to be without the Gospel, nor the Gospel to be without the elders. 'The first living creature like a lion.' Although above I chose rather to set forth the exposition of many Fathers concerning the living creatures, yet here, attending to order in the account, in that he says the first living creature is like a lion, I rather assert that the face of a lion befits Matthew, who both first wrote the Gospel in Judea, and narrates in Christ the lineage of royal dignity, and notably proclaims His glory.
This order the blessed Augustine too urges to be followed, assigning to Matthew the person of the lion, to Mark that of a man, who seems properly to have narrated the human deeds done in Christ. The third, that of the ox, which befits Luke on account of the singular victim of the fatted calf. But to John more rightly is assigned the signification of the eagle, who both merited to see keenly and to proclaim truly the loftiness of the Word of God. Wherefore hence the Church is endowed with the strength and beauty of royal majesty, because 'the lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered.' 'For Judah is a lion's whelp' (Genesis 49), from whose tribe kings were wont to preside over the people. 'And the second living creature like an ox.'
The virtue of this Church is signified also in the ox — namely in that first victim, by that principle whereby each of the faithful still conquers, when he is slain for Christ. 'Present,' he says, 'your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service' (Romans 12), so that what the Head did for the body, the body may merit to fulfill for the Head. For this reason too he began with Zechariah the priest (Luke 1). 'The third living creature having a face as of a man.' Here I think that humility of the Church is commended, whereby, when she has received the spirit of adoption of the sons of God (Romans 8), and has this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4), yet, being humble, she has willingly preferred to glory in her infirmities (2 Corinthians 12),
(2 Corinthians 12) rather than be exalted by acquired virtues, dutifully following the footsteps of the Master, who, 'made obedient unto death' (Philippians 2), said: 'Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart' (Matthew 11). 'The fourth living creature like a flying eagle.' The Church is described as flying by her spiritual members meditating on heavenly things, which, allured by no sight of earthly desire, is governed by the helms of the two Testaments, to be borne aloft more sublimely. For to these likenesses of the faces the person of Christ too is fittingly adapted — namely to the man, whom He assumed not in imagination, but properly and truly.
But by the three remaining likenesses, which He bore for the sake of figurative comparison, He Himself is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the victor over the death inflicted, because 'the lion, strongest of beasts, shall fear at the approach of none.' The ox, who, sacrificed for the salvation of the world, is commended by a more notable victim. The eagle, in that He sought the lowest depths of our mortality, and thence again ascended to the heavenly seat. 'And the four living creatures had each six wings round about.' And in the living creatures he shows the twenty-four elders, for the six wings of the four living creatures are twenty-four wings; and indeed he saw the living creatures around the throne, where he had said he saw the elders.
But how can a living creature with six wings be like an eagle, which has two wings, unless the four living creatures are one? They have twenty-four wings, in which we understand the twenty-four elders, who are the Church, which he likened to the eagle, which is two wings — that is, the two Testaments, by which, being borne up, she is lifted on high, lest, entangled by earthly affections, she be delayed. Otherwise, I judge the six wings are set down on account of the perfection of the number six, because in the sixth age — that is, when the fullness of times comes — the Apostle records these things as accomplished (Galatians 4). For in the last living creature he enclosed all, for there are four, just as also the evangelists.
Each living creature possesses both its own form and the form of the three, just as through Ezekiel these seats and the same living creatures are described. He said each one had four forms, and those forms which here in the Apocalypse are of the lion, the ox, the man, the eagle — these four each single living creature had, so that if anyone had seen one of these, he would have seen all four. Whence it is understood that each singly is entire, and he so describes the wheels of the same throne that one wheel looked toward the four quarters of the world, which is both as it were a wheel, and all four of the same make, so that it is at once one and four, lest there be any place where the throne was not perfect, nor turned aside from any part of the world — thence throughout the whole circuit, namely to possess the whole world of lands.
They were full of eyes before and behind; or, as another translation says, within and without. Within, because the light of the Gospel is worthy to be hidden. For, he says, if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing (II Cor. 4). In another sense, before and behind: because wherever the Church, bearing fruit, is spread abroad, she walks in the light of God's countenance, and with unveiled face beholds the glory of God. Again, the six wings before and behind, which are reckoned as twenty-four, signify the books of the Old Testament, which we receive by canonical authority to that same number, as it were twenty-four elders presiding on their tribunals (II Cor. 3). And the preaching of the New Testament is fruitful for this reason, because it is strengthened, propped up by the testimonies of the Old.
This the Church holds before and behind, that is, both then under the Law and now under grace. And they had no rest, saying night and day: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come (Isa. 6). When the Church, spread abroad on every side in her several members and diverse callings, in cities, regions, provinces, tongues and various peoples, unceasingly praises God with mouth and deed in adversity and prosperity, she ceases not to praise the Lord day and night, while the intellectual creature's perpetual praise abides in the heavens, above Jerusalem, into whose likeness the pilgrim Church rejoices to be conformed.
And when those living creatures gave glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, straightway the twenty-four elders fell down before the throne, and adored him that lives for ever and ever, casting their crowns before the throne. According to the aforesaid pattern of understanding, the whole Church is seen to be built up out of diverse members; for when the living creatures sound forth praise, that is, when the evangelists preach the dispensation of Christ, which consists in the sum of the three times, the twenty-four elders, that is, all the members of the Church, which are made up of prelates and peoples, straightway falling on their faces, adore him that lives for ever and ever.
To this sense the Apostle Paul finally bears witness, saying (I Cor. 14): If the whole Church come together into one place, and all prophesy, and there come in one that is unbelieving or unlearned, he is convinced by all, he is judged by all; the secrets also of his heart are made manifest; and so, falling on his face, he will adore God, declaring that God is truly among you. Casting their crowns before the throne, that is, assigning to God whatever of virtue, whatever of dignity they may have. For to him is rightly ascribed whatever good is gained, by whom he that overcomes is helped.
A figure of this action went before in the Gospel, when the people going before the Lord spread their garments in the way, and taking branches of palm, went forth to meet him and said: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel (Matt. 21; Mark 11; Luke 19; John 12). Victory is more fitly compared to the sign of the crowns of palm. Saying: You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power; for you have created all things, and by your power these things were established. Or, as we find rendered in another edition, because you have created all things, and for your will they were, and were created. They were, namely, even in the design, before they were formed in the work.
But they were created, so that in their own natures also they might come to exist even visibly, according to the bounds prescribed in the wisdom of God. But the things that follow are to be taken up at the beginning of another book to be treated.