The Lamb on Mount Zion and the Harvest of the Earth

§ 1. On the Glory and Triumph of the Holy Martyrs Who Will Die Intrepidly in the Last Persecution for the Name of Jesus and of His Father. Chapter 14, Verses 1–5

I. VERSE 1. And I saw: and behold the Lamb standing upon Mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. This Lamb is Christ, who is here called the Lamb because, just as He was immolated in His Passion like a lamb, and was abandoned by everyone at His death, so, in the last persecution, He will be the Lamb in His martyrs, who will be killed like sheep, and who will be abandoned by men and even, for that circumstance, by God; for they will be without help and without a deliverer.

In those days of desolation, Jesus Christ will therefore truly show Himself as a lamb, permitting the enemies of the Cross to rage against His saints, to conquer them for this world, and to kill them. It is said that this Lamb was standing because He will be the witness of their torments, and because He will strengthen them inwardly in their souls, lest they grow weak. Thus it is reported of Saint Stephen, Acts 7:55, that in his martyrdom he was "filled with the Holy Ghost," and that, looking toward heaven, "he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of His Father."

And I saw: and behold the Lamb standing upon Mount Sion. By Mount Sion is designated the Church of Christ, over which He always presides as universal Head. And it is especially then that He will stand like a general-in-chief, to direct His Church and to encourage His soldiers toward spiritual victory. For such is the victory of the martyr: to suffer, to die, and to be exterminated in his body, in order to conquer in his soul.

And with him a hundred forty-four thousand. This number must be taken in an indeterminate sense, and it designates the universality of the martyrs who will be immolated in very great multitude, and who will persevere in those times in the confession of the Name of Jesus and of His Father. This is why the text adds: Having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads — these words indicate that these hundred forty-four thousand faithful, a very great multitude of Christians who nevertheless will be the minority in comparison with the mass of those who will defect, will openly and publicly confess Jesus Christ of Nazareth crucified, and His Father, true God with Him; and they will seal their testimony with their blood, dying devoured by the beast.

It is said that these hundred forty-four thousand martyrs were standing with the Lamb, Jesus Christ, in order to fight with Him against the beast. These martyrs will be the doctors, preachers, and pastors of souls; for it will be especially the priests of the various hierarchical orders of the Church militant who will present themselves openly to resist Antichrist and his false prophets, and to protect the Christian people against defection. It is of these martyrs that Daniel speaks in his prophecy, Daniel 11:33 and following: "And the wise among the people shall instruct many, and they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by ruin in those times. And when they shall have fallen, they shall be helped with a little help; and many shall be joined to them deceitfully. And some of the wise shall fall, that they may be renewed, and may be chosen, and may be purified and made white, until the appointed time."

The others, on the contrary, who will have been terrified by the horror of the punishments and by the frightful tyranny of the beast, will flee from his presence and will hide themselves in desert places, in solitudes, in the gorges of mountains, and in the clefts of rocks. It is also said, in order to distinguish the intrepid Christians from those who will defect, and as though to signal the special glory of the former, that they had His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And further on it is said that they sang a new canticle, and that no one could sing this canticle except these hundred forty-four thousand.

Finally, the prophet cites this number, one hundred forty-four thousand, because it is precisely the number of the twelve thousand marked from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, of whom chapter 7 speaks; and also to signify the universality and the great multitude of victims who will be immolated in the different hierarchical orders of the Church, for these orders are like tribes, of which the twelve tribes of Israel were the figure.

II. VERSE 2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard was as the voice of many harpers playing on their harps. VERSE 3. And they sang as it were a new canticle before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the ancients; and no man could sing the canticle but those hundred forty-four thousand who were purchased from the earth. VERSE 4. These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb wherever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. VERSE 5. And in their mouth there was found no lie, for they are without spot before the throne of God.

All these words apply much better to the Church militant than to the Church triumphant. They express the virtues, the glory, and the courage of those faithful servants of God of whom we have just spoken. First, they express their intrepid preaching and the confession of the Name of Jesus and of His Father — this is why it is said above: Having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder. This voice is that of the preachers and confessors of the Name of Jesus Christ and of His Father in the days of the beast. This voice will be like the sound of many waters because, just as great waters make a great noise which attracts the attention of men and inspires them with fear, and just as waters also wash and are a very active solvent, so the preaching of these saints will act strongly upon the hearts of Christian peoples, whom it will instruct and preserve in the orthodox faith and in the confession of the Name of Jesus and of His Father.

It is further said that this voice was like the sound of great thunder. Four things are distinguished in thunder: the flash of lightning; the sound of the storm; the effects of the thunderbolt; and the fear and terror which men feel because of it. Such will be the effects of the preaching of the ministers of Jesus Christ in the last days: it will shine by great miracles against Antichrist and his false prophets; it will be strong and powerful like the roaring of a lion; it will destroy and annihilate the illusion of the wonders of the beast; and it will inspire in a multitude of men a great fear of God and of the evils to come.

Thus the preaching of these saints will confirm the peoples in the faith, and will encourage them to confess the Name of Jesus and of His Father rather than to adore the beast and receive his character. Now, since the beast will not be able to conquer the martyrs and drag their souls into the abyss, it will avenge itself upon their bodies with the greatest fury, and will immolate them as the Hebrews immolated sheep, oxen, and other animals when they solemnised the Passover in memory of their departure from Egypt. This is why it was said in the preceding chapter: "She received power to make war against the saints and to overcome them."

Second, the words of verse 3 express the perfect agreement of the minds and hearts of these ministers of the Lord, and also the exact conformity of their works with their doctrine. Thus their preaching will produce a sweet harmony, whose sound will touch and powerfully impress the hearts of the peoples, and will produce a pleasing harmony before God and the Lamb. Hence these words of the prophet: The voice which I heard was as the voice of many harpers playing on their harps.

These words express with great beauty the truth of the doctrine, the purity of morals, and the perfection of charity of those saints who will preach in those times in the Name of Jesus Christ and of His Father, against the abominations and errors of the beast. For just as many harpists, when their instruments are in perfect accord and when they perform pieces of harmony together, produce an admirable effect and exercise a great power over the minds and hearts of men, so the preaching of the word of God, confirmed and adorned by the holy examples and by the great purity of morals of the last apostles, will produce a powerful and effective impression upon the heart and mind of sinners. For good works are the soul of that heavenly instrument of the Word of God.

The prophet therefore employs this comparison, as beautiful as it is touching, to praise these saints and soldiers of Jesus Christ who will dare, in the midst of danger and in the dispersion of their brothers, to use their harps in order to restrain them, gather them, and bring them back to the combat. And no one other than these hundred forty-four thousand who are marked on the forehead with the Name of Jesus Christ and of His Father will dare to resist the fury of the beast. All the others will flee from his presence into desert places, or will defect, receive his character, and adore his image.

Third, and they sang as it were a new canticle. These words designate the confession of Jesus Christ and of His Father, and also virginal chastity or celibacy: two merits that will be so rare among the men of that age, especially because of the tyranny of the beast, that they will appear like a new canticle. For then faith will have entirely disappeared; all flesh will have corrupted its ways; men will wallow in the pleasures of the flesh and in the concupiscence of women. Many ecclesiastics themselves will trample underfoot their most sacred duties, become apostates in order to become husbands, and the face of Christendom will be livid and horrible, as it will never have been until then.

Now, since faith and celibacy flourished in preceding centuries, and since they were already well known in former times, this is why the Apostle does not say absolutely that these two virtues will be new canticles, but as it were, or almost, new. The word sing in this case contains a metaphor, and signifies: to preach publicly, to announce, to confess the truth with joy, and with great liberty and great independence of mind and character; to place all one's glory in doing so, even showing a certain exaltation of spirit. For then the Church militant, in the midst of her desolation, abandonment, dispersion, and poverty, will not be deprived of every consolation. And the consolation of the Church in that time will be, for Catholic hearts who know how to appreciate it, to see so many intrepid soldiers, united by the strongest bonds of charity in Jesus Christ, make their glory, their hope, their love, and their happiness consist in shedding their blood for the Name of the Lord.

Fourth, and they sang as it were a new canticle before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the ancients. These words must be understood both of the Church militant and of the Church triumphant, because of the great joy which the triumph of these intrepid and constant athletes of the faith will procure for both Churches. For to sing before someone is to manifest and procure joy for him. In those days of terror, the persecution will rage not only against the faith of Christians, but also against virginity or priestly celibacy; for the beast, who will be sunk in the dregs of vice and in the concupiscence of women, will have virginity in aversion (Daniel 11:37).

Fifth, and no man could sing the canticle but those hundred forty-four thousand who were purchased from the earth. These words contain a secret of the eternal foreknowledge of God, a secret which was nevertheless revealed to Saint John, in order to inform us in advance of the small number of those who will resist so hard a trial. And God revealed this mystery to us lest Christians should take scandal from it, and lest it become another stumbling block added to all the others, to discourage the faithful. On the contrary, the verification of this prophecy should be, for upright hearts and true soldiers of Jesus Christ, one more motive to strengthen their faith and constancy.

Oh, how small is this number in proportion to the mass of men who people the universe! Ah, it is because, in that time of abomination, there will be a thousand wicked men for ten just ones, and a hundred impious men against one saint. These words demonstrate only too clearly the immense difficulty and incalculable dangers that there will then be for the salvation of souls. The cruelty of the punishments, the corruption, the malice of men, the incredible prodigies of the false prophets, the power of Antichrist over the whole world, the silence of God, who will appear to close His eyes upon that horrible scene, the removal and disappearance of the best men by the violence of torments — all these will be causes of that universal defection. O God, how deep are Your judgments, and how impenetrable are Your ways!

These words, placed in the imperfect, do not contain an absolute impossibility, but a conditional one. It will be absolute indeed in relation to the foreknowledge of God; but it will be conditional in relation to the human will. For those who wish to do so will be able to resist, aided by the grace of God. But, O misfortune! 1 Corinthians 9:24: "Know you not that they that run in the race all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things; and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." This is our example — we priests of the Lord, and you all Christians, disciples of Jesus Christ. Our life must be a continual combat.

Let us therefore prepare ourselves in this way for the great work of the conversion of the world which is about to begin, and afterward for the struggle which threatens the Church so closely. And no man could sing this canticle, for then the flesh and concupiscence will prevail over the spirit; women will pluck the fruits of the tree of the Church, that is, the hearts of many priests whom Jesus Christ alone should possess. There will then be a scarcity of courageous men; and the earth will abound in selfish men, trees without fruit, Christians without faith, and corrupt morals.

Sixth, who were purchased from the earth. These words indicate the elect, the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, who were bought from this world at the price of the Blood of the Lamb, and who will be preserved and kept for eternal life by their own blood, which they will generously shed for the faith and the confession of the Name of Jesus.

VERSE 4. Seventh, these are they who were not defiled with women — that is, they will faithfully keep priestly celibacy, which will be a rare merit and, as it were, a speciality in those days. Eighth, for they are virgins. These good and holy priests are called virgins because they will not be soiled by any vice of the flesh, and because they will never grow weak so as to accept the character of the beast and adore his image, but will preserve themselves pure from every commerce and every relation with it, as virgins and honest women know how to preserve themselves from the insults of an impudent man. Finally, they will remain faithful to God and to the Lamb by their perseverance in the Catholic faith.

In those evil days, it is true, many will fall into apostasy and adore the image of the beast through human weakness, because of the cruelty and duration of the torments, and because of the terror which the power of the beast will inspire in them. But afterward they will recognise their fault; they will courageously rise again from their fall, aided by the grace of God; they will confess their sins, and they will be confirmed and strengthened again in the true faith.

Ninth, these follow the Lamb wherever he goeth. Saint John expresses by these words the perfect obedience of these saints, who will always be disposed to undertake everything, even what is most difficult and most repugnant to nature; and who, moved by the spirit of Jesus Christ, will expose themselves, if necessary, to all torments, to prison, and even to death itself, and will confess with joy that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. These words also signify a perfect imitation of the Lamb, as far as human strength, aided by the grace of God, permits. They express conformity of life in the just with the life of Jesus, their model and their head.

For they will be poor, meek, humble, afflicted, persecuted, rejected by men, and deprived of their resources and possessions, according to these words of the Apostle, Hebrews 11:35: "Some were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might find a better resurrection. And others had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bands and prisons. They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens and in caves of the earth." Now such are the torments reserved for these saints, who will nevertheless show themselves meek as the lamb that is led to the slaughter. They will endure everything with resignation, thinking of the result of their martyrdom, and always keeping before their eyes the living image of their infinitely lovable and perfectly pure Master, Jesus Christ.

Tenth, these were purchased from among men, the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. By these words, Saint John wishes to show us that these holy martyrs will belong to the sacred orders, and that these hundred forty-four thousand will be taken from among the doctors, preachers, pastors of souls, from among priests in general, and that they will be massacred especially out of hatred for the holy sacrifice of the Mass, which the beast will strive to suppress. In this text of Saint John, there is no mention of the Christian people; but there is no doubt that a very great multitude of lay faithful will also fight courageously for the faith, animated as they will be by the word and example of their pastors. Thus Christians in general will be immolated like sheep throughout the whole earth, and will suffer martyrdom with the help of God. This assertion is, moreover, founded upon verses 9, 13, and 14 of chapter 7.

They were purchased from among men. That is, these holy priests will be chosen and separated from other men, because they will keep celibacy, because they will not involve themselves in the affairs of the age, and because they will show themselves truly as firstfruits consecrated to God and to the Lamb.

VERSE 5. Eleventh, and in their mouth there was found no lie. Here Saint John expresses the love of truth and simplicity of heart which will be the ornament of these saints. They will not allow themselves to be seduced by the impostures of the false prophets, being protected by the shield of truth and by the simplicity of their hearts. This shield will indeed be the best defence that can guard them under the reign of lies of those last times; for it is in the simplicity of their heart that these saints will close their ears to every seduction. They will wish to believe nothing except in Jesus Christ and in the Catholic faith, which contains the truth always ancient and always new. It is this same shield which the children of Israel used in the persecution of Antiochus, when they said, 1 Maccabees 2:37: "Let us all die in our simplicity, and heaven and earth shall be witnesses that you put us to death unjustly."

And in their mouth there was found no lie, because they will preach and teach to the world the whole truth, without mixture of errors, without deceiving their brothers by hypocrisy, lies, duplicity, deceit, seduction, and the false politics with which the world will then be infected and covered, as the earth is covered with locusts in the heat of summer. These saints will walk in uprightness and simplicity before God and men.

This is why Saint John finally adds: twelfth, for they are without spot before the throne of God. That is, they will preserve themselves pure from every stain in the midst of the most corrupt age; for that age will be the dregs of the corruption of all ages. Everything abominable and criminal that there will have been in the world from its origin will be reproduced and carried to its height under the reign of Antichrist. It is therefore with reason that Saint John praises these saints as enjoying a particular and exceptional prerogative, because they are pure before the throne of God.

This completes Book Six, Section II, § 1: Revelation 14:1–5.

§ 2. On the Voice of the Three Angels, and the Voice Coming from Heaven. Chapter 14, Verses 6–13

VERSE 6. And I saw another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the eternal Gospel, to preach it to them that sit upon the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people. VERSE 7. Saying with a loud voice: Fear the Lord, and give him honour, because the hour of his judgment is come; and adore ye him that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters.

The first angel is Jesus Christ, who announced to the world the will of His Father, and who is called the Angel of the Testament in Malachi 3:1. The other angel after Jesus Christ is the body of the Apostles, whom He sent throughout the world to preach the Gospel there. This second angel is called another angel because he immediately succeeded Jesus Christ in the preaching of the word of God. Thus, this angel whom Saint John saw flying through the midst of heaven, having the eternal Gospel, is the apostolic body, the priesthood — or rather Saint Michael, representing the moral person of the Church.

Now, toward the end of times, according to the decree of the will of Christ her founder, the priesthood will flourish anew and will be adorned like the bird when it renews its feathers. And when the wings of its liberty shall have grown, this bird will fly through the midst of heaven. By heaven one here understands the Church militant, of which the priesthood will become the ornament and joy by its holy conduct and by its apostolic life, metaphorically represented by the flight of the angel.

As for the eternal Gospel which Saint John saw in his hand, here is its interpretation: this eternal Gospel is the divine oracles which God revealed to His Apostles through His Son Jesus Christ, and which they communicated to the world by preaching the Gospel throughout the whole earth. It is said that this second angel carried the eternal Gospel because the Gospel was indeed entrusted into the hands of the Apostles, to whom it belongs to announce the eternal word of God. Hence this passage: to preach it to them that sit upon the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people — by those who sit upon the earth are designated kings, princes, rulers, nobles, and, in general, all those who dominate upon the earth, over nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples.

Saying with a loud voice — that is, this other angel whom Saint John saw flying through the midst of heaven will preach with zeal, ardour, and efficacy; and the finger of God will be manifested in the preaching of the Apostles whom this angel represents. And they will say to those who govern the earth: Fear the Lord, and give him honour, because the hour of his judgment is come; and adore ye him that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters. This preaching is emphatic, and it implicitly represents the things most necessary for salvation, namely: to fear the Lord, to give Him glory, and to adore Him.

Saint John adds two effective motives which these Apostles will use in order to persuade by their preaching. The first motive is that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, of the sea and of the fountains — these four things contain within themselves all creatures, and are cited here as though to represent all the wonders of the Creator. The second motive is judgment; for the hour of judgment has been fixed in order to render to each one according to his works, and this hour is always approaching; indeed, in relation to eternity, it is as though present. Now, since these two motives have always been very effective in keeping men in their duty toward God, so, toward the end of times, the consideration of these truths will be very useful, and even necessary, to dispose men to resist the beast.

Finally, the preaching of this angel must take place at two different epochs. The first is when the nations, the peoples, men of various tongues, and several kings will return into the bosom of the Catholic Church in the sixth age, as we have seen in chapter 10, verse 11. For it is through the priesthood that this great work will be accomplished: the general conversion of unbelievers and of sinners who will return to penance. Then the voice of the priesthood, or of the angel who represents it, will truly be a strong and very effective voice. The conversion of sinners will take place before the beast — that is, the Turkish Empire — receives its mortal wound, and before the fall of the first Babylon, which is the kingdom of the nations, as we shall see below.

The second epoch of the preaching of this angel is that of the last times, in which the charity of many will grow cold, faith will disappear, and the son of perdition will be manifested. Then this angel — the priesthood — will lift up its voice with strength in the Name of Jesus Christ and of His Father. It will preach intrepidly throughout the whole earth and will say to all men who inhabit it: Fear the Lord, and give him honour, because the hour of his judgment is come; and adore ye him that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters. For in that time, says Daniel 11:33: "The wise among the people shall instruct many." It is then that the last Apostles will go throughout the earth, carrying the eternal Gospel, and working wonders by the virtue of the Almighty, and not by the power of this world. This second epoch will be that of the end of times, when Babylon, which is the reign of this world, will fall and will be consumed by fire, as we shall see further on.

II. VERSE 8. And another angel followed, saying: Fallen, fallen is that great Babylon, which made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Babylon and Babel are synonymous, and signify confusion and mixture. Babylon contains in this book of the Apocalypse a great mystery, which Saint John describes under its figure and enigma. It has two meanings.

First, it represents the special kingdom of the nations, a kingdom which was always the enemy and adversary of the house of Israel in the Old Testament, just as it was and will always be opposed to Christendom in the New, until the consummation of the ages. Now the present reign of the nations is the empire of the Turks, founded by Muhammad, and of which Antichrist will be the last and most powerful sovereign. It is with reason and truth that Saint John gives it the name Babylon, since this empire is formed and mixed from various peoples and different nations, and since its sect is a fusion of paganism, Judaism, and Christianity, teaching the strangest dogmas — or rather errors — as one may convince oneself by the Qur'an. This empire is also called Babylon because Chaldean Babylon was a very powerful and very considerable city, which one could regard as the metropolis of the reign of the nations.

Second, Babylon also represents the world with all its delights and all its pleasures, as being the aggregate of all the wicked united together against the good, under the leadership of their chief Lucifer. It is in this sense that Jesus Christ pointed out this world to His Apostles in John 15:18-19. There are two cities, which are the two capitals of the two kingdoms that divide the earth. One is Sion, or Jerusalem, whose king is Jesus Christ, and whose citizens are all the just or the elect, from Abel until the last one who will be born. Now all the inhabitants of this city constitute the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The other city is Babylon, whose king is Lucifer, and whose inhabitants are the wicked and the reprobate, from Cain until the son of perdition. All these constitute the kingdom of the nations, that is, of all the impious. And this kingdom is also called the world, whose reign and ruin Saint John describes below under the figure of Babylon.

It is in both of these two senses that one must understand, even literally, this Babylon cited in the text. And this is why her ruin is repeated twice: Fallen, fallen is great Babylon. The first fall applies to the ruin of the Turkish Empire; and the second must be referred to the ruin of the kingdom of this world, as we shall see below.

And another angel followed, saying, etc. This angel also represents two persons: the one who announces the fall of Babylon to Saint John, and the person represented. First, this angel is Saint Michael, who announced above the fall of the Turkish Empire and the final ruin of this world. Second, this angel at the same time represents the powerful Monarch under whose empire the reign of the nations will be destroyed, and the empire of the Turks will be mortally wounded. For this reason Saint Michael, representing the Church militant upon earth, congratulates this Church on the fall of the Turkish Empire and of the reign of the nations, and makes it a motive of consolation for her.

It is said that this other angel followed the first. This difference comes from the fact that the announcement of an event naturally precedes its accomplishment. Indeed, in the space of time which will separate the announcement from the event itself, God will raise up a powerful Monarch among the princes of the earth, in order to strike down the great horn of the beast — that is, the empire of Constantinople, or the empire of the East — and in order to occupy its seat.

Fallen, fallen. These words express joy and congratulation over an event long desired and awaited. He expresses himself in the past and not in the future, as though to guarantee the infallibility of the event — it is as though he said: however powerful, however vast, and however prosperous the Turkish Empire may be, it is as certain that it will fall as if it had already happened. Now it will be the same with the end of the world, so long desired by the just, and in which the wicked refuse to believe.

He repeats it for two reasons. First, to confirm the truth of this very great event, which appears all the more distant because it is awaited with greater impatience. Second, to designate two things: the ruin of the Turkish Empire and of the nations in particular, and then the universal ruin of this world, of which he speaks at great length later.

Fallen, fallen is that great Babylon. This is an emphatic manner of speaking, to express this fall and this ruin in two ways. First, the beast will fall from its seat, which is Constantinople and the empire of the East. For by this it will lose its power, the extent of its empire, the multitude of its peoples, and the pomp of its pride, and will be humbled to the point of possessing only a small state. Second, this world, with all its pleasures, the delights of its glory, the pomp of its display, and the brilliance of its riches, will come to an end.

All the worldly who shall have forgotten God their Creator, and who shall have lived without fear of His judgments and according to their corrupt desires, will perish with it, in order afterward to be cast all together into the lake of fire. Thus will be accomplished this word of the Psalmist, Psalm 111:9: "The desire of the wicked shall perish." Then illicit loves, the pleasures of the flesh, riches, honours, principalities, pomp, vainglory, and luxury will vanish away. The fields, woods, and vineyards will no longer bear fruit. The wicked will be agitated in the torments of eternal flames, torments proportioned to the malice and number of their crimes, without any relief and without any consolation. The elect, on the contrary, will rest from their pains and temporal labours in perfect happiness, without any alteration, throughout all eternity.

Fallen is great Babylon. She is called great because of the power, extent, and strength of her kingdoms upon earth, and because of the pride with which she dominated the poor, the humble, the simple, and the just whom she oppressed, whom she despised, and whom she regarded with an eye of disdain. She is also called great because of the innumerable multitude of the wicked and the impious, and because of the number and infinite greatness of her sins.

This is why Saint John adds: which made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. This passage contains three nouns which express the enormity of her malice and wickedness. Indeed, wine intoxicates; wrath excites to rage and tyranny; and fornication expresses idolatry and every kind of infidelity committed against God and against His Christ. Thus, the wine of the wrath of her fornication is the fierce wickedness of the sect of Muhammad, which gave this wine to all nations to drink; that is, which excited them, corrupted them, seduced them, continually drove them to tyranny against Christendom, and forced them to apostatise and reject the worship of the true God, as the history of all past centuries demonstrates only too well. Let this be said in the first sense explained above.

In the second place, the wine of the wrath of her fornication is understood of the heresies, vices, pleasures, and impurities of the age, with which the nations and peoples of the earth will have become as though intoxicated, forgetting God their Creator and refusing to render Him homage by works of holiness and justice. Now the height of this fornication will take place under the reign of Antichrist, who will make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication by his frightful tyranny and seductive impostures, by forcing them to apostatise and deny their God, Jesus Christ, together with His Father.

III. VERSE 9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice: If any man shall adore the beast and his image, and receive his character in his forehead or in his hand, VERSE 10. He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb. VERSE 11. And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever; neither have they rest day nor night, who have adored the beast and his image, and whoever receiveth the character of his name. VERSE 12. Here is the patience of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

This angel is the last Roman Pontiff. He is called a third angel because he will be the third after Jesus Christ, of whom he will be the immediate predecessor in His second coming, just as Saint Peter was His successor in the first. And it is also because both of these two popes alone will have borne the name Peter — for according to the prophecy of Saint Malachy, Primate of Ireland, there will have been no Pontiff of that name in the whole chain of popes, except the first and the last.

This Pontiff will govern the Church in the last and greatest tribulations, when there will gradually appear the question and horrible heresy of the alleged arrival of the Christ and Messiah whom the beast rising up from the earth will announce as being the king of Jerusalem; that is, when the son of perdition will be manifested. Then this Pope, or this third angel, will cry with a loud voice against Antichrist and his followers, against the Jews, the nations, and apostate Christians, by his apostolic definitions and by his encyclicals which he will address to all princes, all peoples, and all Christendom. He will exhort them to keep the commandments of God and faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth crucified; and he will warn them not to let themselves be deceived by this frightful heresy: that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was crucified by the Jews, was an impostor, and that only in these days has the true Saviour and Messiah, awaited for so many centuries by the Jews and by the nations, finally appeared in the world.

For this heresy will take on gigantic proportions, and will already have been condemned by the Church before the son of perdition enters into the fullness of his reign and power. And because men will then have hard heads, and because that time will be the height and summary of all prevarication, this Pontiff will make use of the ministry of his Apostles, of whom we have spoken above, in order to protect and defend truth and justice. He will send them to confirm and bring back the peoples into obedience and into faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, and in His Father, and in the Holy Spirit.

And it is to all men that he will cry with a loud voice: If any man shall adore the beast and his image, and receive his character in his forehead or in his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever; neither have they rest day nor night, who have adored the beast and his image, and whoever receiveth the character of his name. All these words must be understood literally. They express the eternal damnation of all those who in those days, however evil they may be, will abandon the justice of God and faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth crucified. Moreover, these words teach men to fear the true God and their last ends; for after the death and Passion of Jesus Christ, this fear will be the only shield of the Christian people, by which they will be able to win victory over the beast and over his false prophets.

If any man shall adore the beast... he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath. These words express the kind of eternal punishments, which are the implacable wrath of God throughout all eternity. Now this is the greatest torment that can afflict the damned. This torment is called the wine of His wrath because of the vehemence of divine justice and vengeance. Of this wine, mingled pure in the cup of His wrath — for each one will be punished according to the measure of his iniquities. The more the impious one has sinned, the more he will be tormented.

And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone. These words express the first kind of punishments which the damned will endure: the torment of eternal fire. For although the torments of hell are so great and so numerous that one cannot express them, Saint John indicates and summarises them all admirably by these two strong expressions: fire and brimstone. For the fire of hell will not serve to enlighten the damned, according to Saint Matthew 8:12: "The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." But this fire will burn the bodies of these miserable ones throughout all eternity, and this fire will be mixed with brimstone in such a way that the brimstone will feed the fire, and the fire will develop the horrible stench of the brimstone.

The second kind of these punishments will be the eternal confusion of the wicked, expressed by these words of the text: in the sight of the holy angels, and in the sight of the Lamb. Thus the whole heavenly court, and the Lamb who is King Jesus Christ, will be witnesses throughout all eternity of the horrible shame and frightful confusion of sinners. For they will no longer be able to veil their filth and their abominations, since then the secret of hearts will exist no more.

The third kind of these punishments will be eternity, designated by these words: and the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever. Now in the place from which smoke rises without ceasing, there is always fire; and since this smoke will rise for ever and ever, the fire that produces it will be eternal, for there is no redemption for the damned. The fourth kind is contained implicitly in the same words as above, from which one may conclude that these miserable ones will exhale, with the smoke of their torments, blasphemy, envy, jealousy, hatred against the Almighty, and will make heard the gnashing of their teeth for ever and ever.

It is with reason that this rage of sinners against heaven is compared to smoke, which can never rise high enough to reach the heavenly regions. For God, founded upon the justice of His cause, will in His turn mock the impious who despised Him upon earth. And this torment will be horrible for the wicked, who will be devoured by thirst for vengeance, without ever being able to exercise it. For their blasphemies will be vain and without effect, just as smoke that rises into the air can never reach the stars. The wicked will therefore seek in vain to avenge themselves; they will never succeed. They will wish to deliver themselves from their torments, and no one will come to their aid. They will remember the pleasures of their life, and they will be deprived of them forever. They will desire to die, and death will flee far from them. Finally, they will invoke nothingness, or will think they find it in the fire; but the fire will burn them eternally without ever destroying them, because the place they inhabit is the land of forgetfulness. O you, therefore, children of men, remember your last ends, and you will sin no more!

The fifth kind of the torments of hell is that there will be no rest day or night — that is, the damned will never be relieved in their evils by any sleep, and their pains will be continual and every instant.

Here is the patience of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This conclusion follows from the consideration of what precedes; that is, from the eternal torments of which the saints continually have a vivid image before their eyes. It is because of this that they endure with patience all the trials of the present life, in order to avoid the torments of hell. It is thus that, in the last persecution, true Christians, considering the destiny of the good in order to compare it with that of the wicked, will endure with courage and resignation all the torments which the beast will inflict upon them, however long and cruel they may be. And they will remain faithful in the love and faith of Jesus, braving the fury of the beast.

Whereas, on the contrary, he who shall adore the beast and his image, and who shall receive his character on his forehead or in his hand, shall be tormented with fire and brimstone for ever and ever. For God will admit no excuse based on the too great cruelty and the seductive impostures of the beast. This is why Jesus Christ takes care to inform all Christendom in advance, in order to strengthen the faithful, and to encourage them to die courageously and to bear with patience the passing torments which He will permit in order to test His elect. Jesus Christ willed that the pains of hell reserved for cowards who will deny Him by adoring the beast and his image, and by receiving his character, should be solemnly promulgated by the Sovereign Pontiff, who will cry with a loud voice: If any man shall adore the beast and his image... he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, etc.

IV. VERSE 13. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, for their works follow them. This voice is that of the Church militant, which will be heard in the persecution of Antichrist, to congratulate the just in advance upon their martyrdom, and at the same time to sympathise with their pains and labours in tribulations, at the most difficult hour of temptation and at the hour of the most terrible agony that it is possible to undergo.

Blessed are those who will enjoy the great benefit and wholly paternal mercy which God will grant them: to die by plague, famine, or by the wars which will precede those days so full of dangers for souls. See what was said in Book Three, chapter 7. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord — that is, blessed are those who will have died in the grace of God before the hour of this temptation, a thousand times more horrible and more dangerous than the pains and anguish of childbirth!

From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, for their works follow them. These words are full of consolation for those whose bodies and souls rest in the Lord. We say their bodies, for they indeed rest and sleep a sweet sleep in their tombs, awaiting their glorious resurrection, in which they will be transformed and delivered from all the labours, all the dangers, and all the pains of the present life. Blessed are the souls — that is, the spirits of the just — because their works follow them. For they are in glory, and have no longer to suffer any danger or any temptation. They are inaccessible to errors, fears, and the impostures of tyrants. No one will be able to persecute them anymore, nor to ruin them; for they will be in perfect beatitude and rest, a rest which they will enjoy before the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb for ever and ever.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. This phrase may be taken in the past and in the present. The words that compose it are filled with energy. They are a warning given to all men, and especially to those who will live in the time of Antichrist. Jesus Christ therefore tells them to remember the death of the just, in order to compare it with the death of sinners. For when they are well persuaded of the infinite difference between the one and the other, they will not hesitate to sacrifice the present life for the future life. They will much prefer the sacrifice of their perishable body to that of their immortal soul. These words are the voice of a dying man in a long and cruel agony; for in those last days, the torments will be long and death delayed.

This completes Book Six, Section II, § 2: Revelation 14:6–13.

§ 3. On the Future Extirpation of Heresies. Chapter 14, Verses 14–20

VERSE 14. And I saw, and behold a white cloud; and upon the cloud one sitting, like unto the Son of man, having on his head a crown of gold, and in his hand a sharp sickle. The description of the harvest and of the vintage spoken of in this chapter contains a kind of difficult and obscure enigma, under which is described the future extirpation of heresies and of the sect of the nations, or of the Turkish Empire. This extirpation will take place under the powerful Monarch and the holy Pontiff. For God will once more console His Church before the dark night of the reign of Antichrist comes.

Now here is the interpretation of this enigma. He whom Saint John saw seated upon the white cloud is the great Monarch of whom we have already spoken more than once. It is said that he is seated upon a white cloud because his reign, designated by the word seated, will be a holy and stable reign, supported by the protection of Almighty God. This Monarch is called like unto the Son of man because of his great virtues, by which he will imitate his Saviour Jesus Christ. For he will be humble, meek, loving truth and justice, powerful in arms, prudent, wise, and zealous for the glory of God.

He will realise, in a certain way, this prophecy of Isaiah concerning Jesus Christ, Isaiah 11:2: "The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears; but he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith the girdle of his reins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them."

"The calf and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall rest together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp; and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk. They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, because the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. In that day, the root of Jesse shall stand as a sign before the peoples; the nations shall offer prayers to him, and his sepulchre shall be glorious. Then the Lord shall set His hand again to possess the remnant of His people, who shall have escaped from the Assyrians, from Egypt, from Phathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Sennaar, from Emath, and from the islands of the sea."

"He shall lift up His standard among the nations; He shall gather together the fugitives of Israel, and He shall assemble the dispersed of Juda from the four corners of the earth. The jealousy of Ephraim shall be destroyed, and the enemies of Juda shall perish; Ephraim shall no longer envy Juda, and Juda shall no longer fight against Ephraim. And they shall fly upon the sea to fall upon the Philistines; together they shall spoil the peoples of the East. Edom and Moab shall submit to their laws, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. The Lord shall make desolate the tongue of the sea of Egypt; He shall lift up His hands over the river; He shall shake it by His mighty breath; He shall strike it and divide it into seven streams, so that men may pass through it on foot. And the remnant of My people who shall have escaped from the Assyrians shall find there a passage, as Israel found one when he came out of Egypt."

What has just been said of Jesus Christ in this prophecy may be applied, in a certain way and by resemblance, to that powerful Monarch of whom Saint John says that he will be like unto the Son of man, having on his head a crown of gold. That is, he will be a great Monarch, rich and powerful, and the ruler of rulers. He will conquer the kings of the nations, and he will be full of the charity of God. Let what has been said of him in chapter 3, concerning the sixth age of the Church, be read again.

And in his hand a sharp sickle. This sickle which the great Monarch will hold in his hand is his great and strong army, with which he will pass through the kingdoms of the nations, republics, and strong places, which he will pierce through and through. It is said that his sickle is sharp because he will engage in no battle without victory resulting for his arms, or great losses and great slaughter for the enemy. It is related of Jonathan and Saul in the Old Testament, 2 Kings 1:22: "The arrow of Jonathan never turned back, nor the sword of Saul returned empty from battle." Now such, in perfection, will be the army of this great and powerful Monarch.

It is said that he holds his sickle in his hand because his army will undertake nothing without his counsels; and he himself will direct it by his plans, as is related of Alexander the Great. It is also said that he holds his sickle in his hand because his army will obey him perfectly, and will be attached to him and love him in such a way that he will wield it like a staff, and by means of it will accomplish great, astonishing, and admirable things.

II. VERSE 15. And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat upon the cloud: Thrust in thy sickle and reap, because the hour is come to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. This voice is the voice of one who vehemently exhorts to war and to the harvesting of the cockle of heretics and of the Turks. This angel who will come out of the temple and cry thus is the great and holy Pontiff of whom we have spoken, whom God will raise up in those days. And this Pontiff, moved by a divine inspiration, will exhort and urge this Monarch to undertake this sacred war.

"Thrust in thy sickle," he will say to him; that is, "thy powerful army." "And reap"; that is, cut down, tear up, and uproot the heretics and the barbarians. "For the hour is come to reap, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." This Pontiff will speak this language by revelation; and by these words he will stir the hearts of princes and engage them to unite in order to undertake this war. And God will dispose the hearts of the soldiers in such a way that they will adhere in mind and heart to the enterprise of their powerful Monarch. Because the harvest is ripe — that is, the moment has come to cut down the cockle and cast it into the fire. This is a metaphor which signifies the annihilation and ruin of heresies and barbarism.

VERSE 16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust his sickle into the earth, and the earth was reaped. All these words express the happy success obtained according to the words of the holy Pontiff. And the earth was reaped — for the great Monarch will exterminate, or will subject to his power, the nations of the Turks and of the heretics, and he will occupy their lands.

VERSE 17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. This sickle is another army, which the States of the Church and their allies, closely and strongly united, will gather and send to the aid of the great Monarch. This is why it is said that this other angel came out of the temple; that is, from the States of the Church, of which the temple is the figure. Which is in heaven — that is, in the Church militant, which the word heaven signifies and represents. He of whom it is said, And another angel came out of the temple, will be the great general-in-chief whom this holy Pontiff, of whom we have spoken, will appoint or designate to command that strong army which will be employed to ruin and annihilate the power of the Turks and of the heretics.

VERSE 18. And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire; and he cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle: Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vineyard of the earth, because they are ripe. Here there is another voice, exhorting with ardent zeal to act and to fight with strength, in order to win victory over the enemies of the Church who had so greatly humbled her. For the beast, which is the Turkish Empire, must previously occupy Italy, and will extend itself considerably everywhere. It will press Christendom so closely that Christendom, reduced to the last necessity, will also attempt extreme measures and will obtain immense success. It will tear apart the seat, or kingdom, of the beast — that is, the Turkish Empire — and will relegate to hell the perfidy of heretics.

For this reason Saint John designates two kinds of enemies, whom he distinguishes by the words harvest and vintage. The first word signifies the nations of the Turks; and the second designates the heretics. For by the sheaves of straw one understands the barbarous nations; and by the clusters of wild grapes one understands the heretics who boast of being Christians. It is of these latter that Our Lord speaks by allegory in the Gospel, John 15:1-7: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He will take away; and every one that beareth fruit, He will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean by reason of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he shall be cast forth as a branch; he shall wither, and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire, and he shall burn."

These words concerning the harvest and the vintage spoken of in the Apocalypse are a great and difficult metaphor. For God has always given great kingdoms to the nations of the earth, while He enclosed His chosen people within narrow, restricted, and disadvantageous limits, like a land bordered by a hedge of thorns. And it is in such a state that the Church now finds herself, the vineyard of the God of hosts. Thus, by the harvest — or rather by the sheaves of dried straw, or the cockle — one understands the nations of the earth. And by the grapes which grow upon the wild shoots of the vine, which is the Church of Christ, are literally designated the heretics. For Jesus Christ is the vine; and in His vineyard, which is the Church, two kinds of grapes grow: good grapes, that is, true Christians; and wild grapes, that is, heretics, who are otherwise represented by dry branches.

VERSE 19. And the angel thrust his sharp sickle into the earth, and gathered the vineyard of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. These words insist again upon the prosperity of the Church, and upon the certainty and evidence of the testimony which Saint John gives: that these things will come to pass in their time, for the consolation of the holy Roman Church. For the Lord has spoken, and He will always execute His word.

And cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. This great winepress of the wrath of God is the press, or vat, in which divine justice will exercise its vengeance upon the heretics and upon the barbarous nations. It is into this great winepress that the Lord has always cast both the one and the other, for the consolation of the people of Israel and of the Church of Christ, lest the nations should say: "Where, then, is their God?" Scripture speaks of this wrath or vengeance of God in Psalm 77:65: "The Lord awoke as one out of sleep, and as a mighty man who had been made more terrible by wine. And He struck His enemies behind, and covered them with everlasting confusion and reproach." This winepress will be the extermination and ruin of the barbarous nations and of the heretics. And it is the powerful Monarch who, by the permission and cooperation of the justice, vengeance, and wrath of the Almighty, will cast them into it. For God is the principal cause, and men are, as it were, the instruments of His almighty arm.

VERSE 20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, for the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs. These words signify a very great shedding of blood, which God, in His wrath and indignation, will cause His Christian armies to pour out from His enemies.

And the winepress was trodden without the city — that is, God will make the effects of His wrath weigh upon these nations outside the holy city and Palestine, which has been reserved to the nations until the son of perdition comes. And blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles. This expression is hyperbolic, and signifies so great a shedding of blood that the horses will almost swim in the blood of the dead and wounded. For when horses swim, they are sunk in the water up to their nostrils. For the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs — this also is a hyperbole, representing the immense slaughter which Christians will make their enemies undergo.

This completes Book Six, Section II, § 3: Revelation 14:14–20, and closes Chapter 14 in its entirety.