CHAP. XVIII. 'And after these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was enlightened with his glory.' By the destruction of worldly wisdom, which the destruction of Jericho also signifies. But being about to speak of the ruin of the earthly kingdom, it says that this angel has great power, insinuating (as I think) that a stronger one has come against the strong, and one like him has come to do battle; and, casting a shadow over the vestige of worldly wisdom, it now bears witness that the true light of wisdom has come, which shows itself unconquered both in power and in knowledge to the wise of the world and the earthly kings who trust in the strength of their own might. 'And the earth,' it says, 'was enlightened with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty and strong voice, saying:'
'That great Babylon is fallen, and is become a dwelling-place and refuge of demons, and of every unclean spirit, and of every unclean beast, and of every unclean and hateful bird.' I think this signifies the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we read of in Isaiah as the Angel of great counsel (Isa. 9). At his first coming, saying (Matt. 3): 'Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,' he was destroying the very undertakings of secular power. 'And the earth was enlightened with his glory,' because he himself is the true light 'which enlightens every man coming into this world' (John 1). But what follows can trouble the reader, for it says: 'And it is become a dwelling-place and refuge of demons,' etc.
For if it has fallen, how is it said to have become an inhabitation and refuge to demons and unclean spirits and birds? — unless because, by the enormity of its many transgressions, in falling it has offered itself worthy of the habitation of demons, being in one part destroyed by its own wholesome conversion. And that which in the sea of this world rose up against the faith of Christ with the strong waves of persecutions now groans, bridled within narrower bounds, and roars, enclosed as in a wineskin. Hence in the psalm we sing (Ps. 32): 'Gathering together the waters of the sea as in a wineskin, laying up the depths in storehouses.' For she who was once feared by Christians now herself fears the Christians, when by their privilege they behold the broad decrees of princes serving even the religious.
Yet the remaining part of her is become a dwelling-place and refuge of demons, whereby she is on every side destroyed so as to be built up for the better, and being cast down among the proud she is broken, and is rightly said to have collapsed once destroyed. For that spiritual wickednesses are also signified by birds, that passage too of the Book of Genesis affirms, where Abraham is said to have driven off the birds that rushed in among the divisions of the flesh (Gen. 15). 'For of the wine of the wrath of her fornication all nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are grown rich by the power of her delights.' Here it names three kinds of vices, and introduces as many persons of transgression: avarice, which according to the Apostle is called the service of idols (Eph. 5);
lasciviousness, under the name of fornication (Col. 3); and, in the delights, gluttony, which the Lord, forewarning that it must be avoided, speaks of (Luke 21): 'Let not your hearts be weighed down with surfeiting and drunkenness.' 'And the kings of the earth,' it says, 'have committed fornication with her.' For avarice — in that it says 'the merchants are grown rich,' although some have preferred here to reckon riches by sins rather than by possessions — 'the nations' designated the mixed and ignoble multitude of the common people; 'the kings,' those who among them seem for a time to excel; 'the merchants,' those who, gaping after earthly gains, in exchange for temporal abundance trade away their souls in an unhappy commerce, doing the contrary to the teachings of the Lord, who says (Matt. 16): 'What exchange shall a man give for his soul?'
'And I heard another voice from heaven, saying.' That hearing of the heavenly voice belongs to those 'whom he foreknew and predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son' (Rom. 8); and 'The Lord knows who are his' (2 Tim. 2); and things like these. Then follows: 'Go out from her, my people, that you be not partaker of her sins.' Thus far this seems to me to pertain to the first coming, when, until the end of the age, the good so tolerate the wicked mingled with them, that on their account they neither think the good should be forsaken, nor should imitate the guilty by harmful example. For thus too that prophetic word is fulfilled (Isa. 52): 'Go out from the midst of them, and touch not the unclean thing,' since it is not by a departure of the body, but by a departure of a most wicked will, that the upright is not mingled with the depraved.
There follows: 'And that you be not stricken with her plagues, for her sins have reached even unto heaven, and the Lord God has remembered her iniquities; and therefore render to her double,' and 'in the cup wherein she has mingled, mingle double for her'; and 'as much as she has glorified herself and lived in delights, so much give her of torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and I am no widow, and I shall see no sorrow. Therefore in one hour shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burned with fire, because God is strong who shall judge her.'
All these things are indeed believed to befit the second coming, when at the scrutiny of the supreme judgment the fellowship of the impious, being shut out, shall be struck with just retribution, so that those who sinned for a time may be punished forever. For this is what it says: 'Render to her double, and double has been mingled for her,' so that he who enjoyed transitory delights may be tortured with eternal torments. And that Christ delivers his own from usuries is foretold in the psalm (Ps. 71): 'From usuries and iniquities,' it says, 'he shall redeem their souls.' But the former are said, moreover, to be burned with perpetual fire, and afflicted with famine — then indeed, when those who now hunger and thirst after justice (Matt. 5) shall receive an incorruptible fullness. And to die, in that God forsakes them.
For just as, when the soul departs, the body dies, so the soul, when God forsakes it, is to be believed to die. Their mourning, moreover, is that of which Christ speaks in the Gospel (Luke 6): 'Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.' Willing to show his own free from these plagues, God says: 'And that you be not stricken with her plagues' — as if he should say: You who, being converted, refused to have a will like theirs in sins, shall not receive a like vengeance. For not by our own strength can we escape those same plagues, since this is granted us by the sole benefit of God. But the Holy Spirit, keeping right order, willed to declare that those who in their heart are not taken captive in piety are by no means, by any assent, stricken with the torments of the impious.
For 'the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of malice shall not touch them' (Wis. 3). But it so circumscribes these things which are then to come, that it has expressed the works to be inflicted; yet these punishments are not to be reckoned as of this present age, about soon to end their final courses, as is proved from what follows. For the Lord too, foretelling the contrition of the world, added (Luke 21): 'But the end is not yet.' 'And the kings of the earth who committed fornication with her and lived in delights shall weep and bewail themselves, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for fear of her torment, saying: Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come.'
'And the merchants of the earth shall weep, bewailing her, because no one shall buy their merchandise any more.' How is it certain that the same Babylon is signified by diverse names, and exists whether of the kings of the earth, or of the nations, or of the merchants, if, when she is set on fire, they are said consequently to stand afar from her, and to bewail her — not by grieving over a common torment, but by miserably deploring her in free consideration — unless because, as I have set forth before, we ought here not to take an altogether final end of the world, but a diminution of human affairs and a contrition of diverse nations?
For it says that the pomp of secular riches is taken away, through which, for the fulfilling of depraved wills, an opportune occasion, overflowing with the conveniences of carnal delights, in a manner favored their unruliness. When this is removed, being inflicted by the divine judgments through defect and desolation, certain survivors are represented as bewailing the destruction of the others. Therefore they are said to stand afar off, and for fear of a like penalty to be afraid. For perhaps to this it pertains, that they are said to see the smoke of the burning, as it were a specimen of the eternal fire. For smoke gives an indication of flames to come.
It accordingly relates whatever is necessary for human uses, whatever it knows to be greatly coveted by the greedy and carnal for worldly conveniences, but also those things which it knows to be delightfully drawn in by the most familiar five senses of the flesh, and declares that these shall fail, in this manner: 'The merchandise of gold, and of silver, and of precious stones, and of pearls, and of silk.' Thus far pertaining to the usefulness of places. 'And of purple, of scarlet, and of every kind of garment, and of all cedar wood, and every vessel of ivory, and of precious wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble.' Thus far it also mentions things pertaining to the sense of the eyes. Then, as to what pertains to smell, there follows: 'And of cinnamon, and incense, and ointment.' And to ointment it interweaves even touch. 'And frankincense,' it says.
Accordingly it added those things which are brought to taste and use, saying: 'and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat.' Then it sets down 'beasts of burden and cattle, and horses, and chariots, and slaves,' and animals of diverse kinds, for the sake of usefulness. 'The fruits also of your soul's desire,' it says, 'are departed from you.' This too it brought back to sight and taste. 'And all things fat and splendid have perished from you, nor shalt thou find them any more. Thy merchants also, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for fear of her torment, weeping and bewailing, and saying: Alas, alas, that great city, which was clothed with purple and fine linen and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stone and pearl! For in one hour are so great riches brought to nought.'
That 'hour' is here put for 'time' is proved by the judgments of many testimonies. 'And every pilot, and every one that sails by sea, and mariners, and those who work in the sea, shall stand afar off, seeing the smoke of her burning, saying: What city is like this great city?' And, 'casting dust upon their heads' — that is, reproaching the face of their princes, by whom they were seduced and perishing — 'they shall cry, weeping and mourning, and saying with a mighty voice: Alas, alas, that great city, in which all were made rich who had ships in the sea, by her glory; for in one hour is she brought to desolation.'
But since we know that many are often pricked to compunction by this contrition, if those passages by which we are admonished ought to be applied to their person, it is not unfittingly taken thus — that is, 'they shall stand afar off and cry, seeing the smoke of her burning' — so that to be afar is not to fall with the lost, but rather by a sudden conversion to attain stability; and therefore 'to his own master he stands or falls,' which ought to be understood not of standing bodily, but of a conversion of the mind steadfast in faith; so that both, in that they are said to bewail while others perish, they themselves may be understood to bear fruitful penance. For hence the Apostle says (Eph. 2):
'Whereas you were dead in your offences and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, the spirit that now works in the children of unbelief; among whom also we all conversed in time past in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the wills of the flesh and of the thoughts; and we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest' — or things like these. According to these sayings of the Apostle, I say, this passage can be fitted to the persons of the converted. For no one can be found good who was not first evil. Hence the psalm (Ps. 118): 'I have accounted all the sinners of the earth transgressors.' For perhaps thence follows here:
'Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints, and apostles, and prophets.' As though these converted, delighted, might rejoice over the judgment of God, 'because God has judged your judgment on her,' it says. 'And a strong angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: With this force shall that great Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more.' We know that the Lord said in the Gospel (Matt. 18): 'Woe to the world because of scandals,' and subjoined: 'Woe to that man by whom the scandal comes; it is better for him if a millstone be hung about his neck, and he be cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones' — signifying that the authors of scandal are to be punished with such a penalty.
Where I think it should be understood not of scandal alone, but he frequently treats of every kind of sinner, according to that rule which holy Scripture employs — whether with the Lord saying (Matt. 5): 'If your eye, foot, hand, scandalize you,' or with Paul the Apostle (2 Cor. 11): 'Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?' To which sense the psalm (Ps. 120) accords, saying: 'By day the sun shall not burn you, nor the moon by night' — where, when even an understanding of evil belief concerning Christ and the Church, that is concerning the sun and the moon, is admitted, or concerning the sins of adversity and prosperity (which is to be referred to the moon, or to the sun), all species, as it were in the genus of transgressions, seem to be included under the name of scandal.
This here also insinuates that the author of scandal, that is of all sin, is to be sunk in the manner of a millstone. But the millstone here seems to me to be put for the weight of sins, which are contracted from temporal things. For the Lord teaches that the mill is set in the round of secular affairs, when he says: 'Two women grinding at the mill.' 'And the voice of harpers, and of musicians, and of them that play the flute, and of trumpeters, shall be heard no more in thee.' It had deferred the sound of those five senses, which it now has fully expressed, and which among other things it foretold to be taken away by degrees, as if it should say: Whatever is beautiful to sight, melodious to hearing, soft to touch, sweet to smell, delightful to taste, shall pass away from the world.
And that it might not allow us to be content with these, it added also concerning those things which pertain to the use of human life, saying: 'Neither shall any craftsman of any craft be found in thee any more, and the voice of the millstone shall be heard no more in thee; and the light of the lamp shall shine no more in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more in thee.' And it says by what desert: 'because thy merchants were the magnates of the earth, for by thy sorceries all nations were led astray.' As if it should say: Because in thy life thou hast ill used temporal goods, thou shalt justly be henceforth defrauded of them, and, to be condemned, thou shalt be bound fast with eternal penalties. 'And in thee was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.'
Here it is more openly declared that the whole body of the devil, in the one city of Babylon, is rebuked for its excesses. For we do not know the martyrs to have been slain in the same city in which the prophets were, as far as pertains to the signification of place; yet there is one city by the fellowship of the impious. There follows: CHAP. XIX. 'After these things I heard the voice of great multitudes crying with a mighty voice in heaven, saying: Alleluia. Salvation, and glory to our God, for true and just are his judgments, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth by her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants from her hands. And again they said: Alleluia.'
The Lord bore witness to something similar in the Gospel, saying that the blood of the just in general is to be required of the person of this body: 'From the blood,' he says (Matt. 23), 'of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias' — embracing briefly the sum, as it were, of peoples and of priests intimated. Therefore he mentions the place too, saying, 'whom you slew between the temple and the altar' — reducing the temple to the people, the altar to the priests. But in that they said again 'Alleluia,' the Church praises God over his judgments with unceasing affection. For 'Alleluia' means 'Praise the Lord.' There follows concerning that harlot: 'And the smoke of her goes up for ever and ever.' The Church
— namely, persevering in the joy of his praise — the smoke of the perdition of the impious remains. For just as smoke is the beginning of fire, so, the fire persevering, it says that smoke is present. A specimen of these good and evil ones I judge the Lord to have figured in the poor man and the rich (Luke 16). 'And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and adored God sitting on the throne.' It mentions the Church. There follows, 'saying: Amen' — that is, truly, faithfully. 'And a voice came out from the throne, saying: Praise our God, all you his servants, and you that fear God, little and great.' Since it commands this to be done and mentions it done, it gave an indication of that thing, that
— that he has received as pleasing the praise of his elect, approving, namely, what was set forth before, and enjoining it to be perpetual. But the 'great' in the Church are those of whom the Apostle says (1 Cor. 2): 'We speak wisdom among the perfect.' And the Lord (Matt. 5): 'He who shall so teach men shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.' The 'little,' of whom he says (1 Cor. 3): 'As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat.' 'And I heard the voice of great trumpets, and as it were the voice of strong thunderings, and as it were the sound of many waters, saying: Alleluia.' In the trumpets is designated that preaching of which Isaiah speaks (Isa. 58):
'Cry, cease not, lift up your voice like a trumpet' — in which preaching is also insinuated the dread of the divine judgment; this I think is signified by the name of thunder, since they are fitting to men. Therefore it is certain that peoples are wont to be figured by many waters, who praise God, saying: 'Alleluia.' And so the Church, when it both preaches and fears and praises, exults with trembling, as is read: 'Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto him with trembling.' 'Because the Lord God almighty has reigned.' Rightly here it makes mention of his omnipotence. For he made out of nothing the things that were not; he sought those who had perished by sin; he found those to be punished; and of those whom he willed, he mercifully made just;
and finally, out of these, as out of members, constructing for himself the Church, he endowed her, thus redeemed, with such a gift [dignity], that he made her his bride, though she had not deserved even to be his handmaid. There follows: 'Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has prepared herself. And it was given to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, white and clean.' For the fine white linen is the justices of the saints. That all these things befit the elect Church no spiritual man doubts. They indeed are said to prepare themselves for his spiritual wedlock who have preferred always to persist in the works of justice. 'And he said to me: Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' Of this the Lord says (Matt. 8):
'And they shall sit down with Abraham and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven'; and likewise: 'Passing by, he shall minister to them' — signifying, namely, those who according to his purpose are called holy, and pass into the fullness of the elect. 'For many are called, but few chosen' (Matt. 20). 'And again he said to me: These are the true and just words of God.' Then it is said divinely to the Church, when the Word of God and the same truth is revealed. 'And I fell down at his feet to adore him. And he said to me: See that you do it not, for I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Adore God.' Although at the beginning of this book I said that,
through an assumed creaturely form of an angel the Lord Christ revealed all things to John — which even here he would especially give to the understanding, when he does not suffer himself to be adored as God, but rather admonishes that he be reckoned a fellow-servant, and thoroughly teaches that the one God is to be adored — yet it can trouble the reader that even he says: 'I am the first and the last' (chap. 1). But we shall have known that the angel said this in the person of Christ. Finally, at the end it says (chap. 22): 'I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches.' There follows: 'For the sanctification of testimony is the spirit of the prophets.' For the whole sum of prophecy and the sanctification of the spirit consists in the testimony of Jesus Christ, whom all law and prophecy serves.
Wherefore also, manifesting himself on the mountain (Matt. 17; Mark 9; Luke 9) between Moses and Elijah, he shone with the brightness of his countenance and garment, and truly declared that he had testimony from the law and the prophets. For if they foretold anything, he himself bears witness that it serves Christ and the Church, saying of Moses (John 5): 'He wrote of me.' For even rising again, he says (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.' Nor perhaps do the mysteries of Christ seem there either to sound forth or to be signified; but to this end are they interwoven, that the whole series of that Scripture, rising up by the instrument of speaking, may be more fittingly constructed, as in an organ.
For whatever places are touched give forth sound, but so that a sonorous place may bring forth the song of the necessary modulation, and the whole framework of those vessels, bound together, serves. Then, having set forth the earlier things more broadly, it re-weaves them in a brief recapitulation. 'I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True.' This is he whom it had said above to have received the crown due to victory — equitable and just, who judges and shall do battle, as the King of all ages does battle, who ever in his own members suffers together with them, fights when he conquers, crowns in himself, but affording strength to those who contend, who promises a reward to the victors (Wis. 2). 'And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head many diadems.'
'In him we shall do valiantly' (Ps. 59); in him the multitude of saints, he is said to have a crowned beauty. 'And having a great name written, which no one knows but himself.' The perfect knowledge of the Word of God is manifested to those who have deserved to be the body of Christ and members, inasmuch as the head bestows the knowledge of itself specially upon the body; but he himself knows what the Church has deserved to know in him. For 'he who cleaves to the Lord,' says the Apostle (1 Cor. 6), 'is one spirit'; for 'the two shall be in one flesh.' This name neither the Jews, nor the aliens, nor the heretics have known. For 'if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory' (1 Cor. 2). And likewise: 'The world,' he says (John 17), 'has not known you'; and again he says to his disciples (John
14): 'But you shall see me, because I live, and you shall live. In that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.' Whence also it is answered by the disciples (ibid.): 'Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?' But as regards the heretics, the same again says to them (Matt. 13; Mark 4): 'To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to them that are without, all things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and not understand.' 'Having a great name written, which no one knows but himself.'
Care must indeed be taken, lest, by carnal prudence stealing in, the name of the Son — of which we now treat — be thought unknown either to the Father or to the Holy Spirit; but rather, having seized the opportunity of this place, we should know, by the usual manner of speech of Scripture, that this is expressed from a pure sense: namely, that as the Son alone is said to know, the whole Trinity is altogether taught to know; just as, if anything is said to be known by the Father alone, he is proved to know it doubtless with his own Wisdom, which is Christ, or with his own Spirit, who is believed to be the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. For when the day of judgment is reported to be known by the Father alone, surely neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit is denied to know it.
So too, when the Holy Spirit alone is said to know something, and by a similar manner of speaking the name of the Father or of the Son is passed over in silence, he is nonetheless declared in every way to know, as when the Apostle says (1 Cor. 2): 'No one of men knows the things that are of a man, except the spirit of the man that is in him; so also the things that are in God no one has known, except the Spirit of God.' To separate either the Father or the Son from this knowledge is the mark of a madman. For not even he who says elsewhere (Ephes.
4), 'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed unto the day of your redemption,' passed over the Father and the Son in silence because he excluded their persons from the work of our redemption; for through the undivided power of one nature the works of the Trinity are taught to be inseparable. As for what the Lord says in the Gospel (Mark 13), that of that day of judgement not even the Son knows, but the Father alone, this is said by that rule of speech: that by knowing something he makes others to know, and by not knowing he makes others not to know. Wherefore, through the rule of understanding thus insinuated, the name of the Son, which is said to be known to him alone, we recognise to be manifest also to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. For that it is spoken of the Son a plain consequence attests, when it is said:
'And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called The Word of God.' If it is granted to no one to know his name, why is 'The Word of God' now openly proclaimed? But just as we read (John 3), 'No one has ascended into heaven, except him who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven,' so let us understand that, if any of the members should ascend, it is in the head itself and through the head itself that he merits to ascend: he who both gave his members to hope for this by promising, and will make it to be possessed by fulfilling. So too here Christ alone is said to know what is granted to his bride to know in him: through whom and in whom the Church is fully taught.