Letters to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea

The Three Last Ages of the Church Militant

§ 1. On the Fifth Age of the Church Militant, Called the Age of Affliction, Beginning from Leo X and Charles V Until the Holy Pontiff and the Powerful Monarch. Chapter 3, Verses 1–6

VERSE 1. And to the angel of the church of Sardis, write: These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works.

I. The fifth age of the Church began under the Emperor Charles V and Pope Leo X, about the year 1520. It will last until the holy Pontiff and the powerful Monarch who shall come in our age and shall be called the help of God — that is, restoring all things. The fifth age is an age of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church, and it may rightly be called a purgative age (purgativus).

For it is in this age that Jesus Christ has purified, and will purify, His wheat by cruel wars, by seditions, by famine and plague, and by other horrible calamities, afflicting and impoverishing the Latin Church by many heresies, and also by bad Christians who shall take from her a great number of bishoprics, almost innumerable monasteries, very rich provostships, and so forth. The Church will see herself oppressed and impoverished by the impositions and exactions of Catholic princes, so that we may rightly groan now and say with the prophet Jeremias in Lamentations 1:1: "The queen of cities is tributary."

For the Church is humbled and abased, because she is blasphemed by heretics and by bad Christians; her ministers are despised, and there is no longer honour or respect for them. It is by this that God will purify His wheat and cast the chaff into the fire, while He gathers the good grain to place it in His barn.

Finally, this fifth age of the Church is an age of affliction, an age of extermination, an age of defection filled with calamities. For there will remain few Christians on the earth who shall have been spared by the sword, famine, or plague. Kingdoms shall fight against kingdoms, and all states shall be desolated by internal dissensions. Principalities and monarchies shall be overthrown; there shall be an almost general impoverishment and a very great desolation in the world. These misfortunes are already in part accomplished, and they shall yet be accomplished.

God will permit them by a most just judgment, because of the full measure of our sins which we and our fathers shall have committed during the time of His generosity in waiting for us to do penance.

The Church of Sardis is a type of this fifth age. For the word Sardis means "principle of beauty," that is, the beginning of the perfection which shall follow in the sixth age. Indeed, tribulations, impoverishment, and other adversities are the beginning and cause of the conversion of men, just as the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now we fear God and open our eyes when the waters and waves of tribulations assail us. On the contrary, while we are in prosperity, each one under his fig tree, in his vineyard, in the shade of honours, in riches and repose, we forget God our Creator and sin in all security. This is why divine Providence has wisely ordained that His Church, which He wills to preserve until the consummation of the ages, should always be watered by the waters of tribulations, like a gardener who waters his plants in time of drought.

To this age also belongs the fifth Spirit of the Lord, which is the spirit of counsel. For He uses this spirit to avert calamities, or to prevent greater evils. He also uses it to preserve good or to procure still greater goods. Now divine Wisdom communicated the spirit of counsel to His Church principally in the fifth age: 1. By afflicting her, so that she might not be entirely corrupted by riches, pleasures, and honours, and to prevent her from perishing. 2. By placing the Council of Trent like a light in the darkness, so that Christians who saw it might know what they ought to believe amid the confusion of so many sects which the heresiarch Luther spread throughout the world. Without this Council of Trent, a far greater number of Christians would have abandoned the Catholic faith, so great at that time was the divergence of opinions. Men scarcely knew what they ought to believe. 3. By setting Saint Ignatius and his Society diametrically against this heresiarch and against the mass of the impious of that age; for by their zeal, holiness, and doctrine, they prevented the Catholic faith from being altogether extinguished in Europe. 4. By His wise counsel, God also caused the Catholic faith and the Church, which had been banished from the greater part of Europe, to be transported into the Indies, China, Japan, and other distant countries, where it now flourishes, and where the holy name of the Lord is known and glorified, and so forth.

This fifth age is also figured by the fifth epoch of the world, which lasted from the death of Solomon until the Babylonian captivity inclusively. For: a. Just as in that fifth epoch of the world Israel fell into idolatry through the counsel of Jeroboam, and only Judah and Benjamin remained in the worship of the true God, so, in the fifth age, a very great part of the Latin Church abandoned the true faith and fell into heresies, leaving in Europe only a small number of good Catholics. b. As, because of its conduct, the synagogue and the whole Jewish nation were afflicted by the Gentiles and often delivered over to pillage, so also now, with what calamities are not Christians, the Roman Empire, and the other kingdoms afflicted? Do not England, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, France, and the other states of Europe serve as witnesses for us, and do they not have to deplore their evils with bitter tears, and even with tears of blood? c. Just as Assur came from Babylon with the Chaldeans to seize Jerusalem, destroy its temple, burn the city, despoil the sanctuary, and lead the people of God into captivity, so, in this fifth age, must we not fear that the Turks will soon break in and weave sinister plans against the Latin Church — and this because of the full measure of our crimes and our greatest abominations? d. Just as in the fifth epoch the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah were considerably weakened and continued to weaken more and more, until finally first the kingdom of Israel and then that of Judah were entirely destroyed, so also in this fifth age we see that the Roman Empire has been divided, and is now so agitated that we must fear it will perish as the Eastern Empire perished in the year 1452.

Finally, the fifth day of the creation of the world also belongs to this fifth age, when God commanded the waters to bring forth all kinds of fish and creeping things, and when He created the birds of heaven. Now these two kinds of animals figure the greatest liberty; for what is more free than a fish in the water, or a bird in the air? Thus, metaphorically, in this fifth age we find the earth and the water full of creeping things and birds. For carnal men abound who, having abused liberty of conscience, and not content with the concessions recently granted to them in the treaty of peace, creep and fly after the objects of their pleasure and concupiscence. Each one believes and does what he wills.

To them apply the words of the Apostle Saint Jude, verse 10, in his Catholic Epistle, when he says: "These men blaspheme whatever things they know not; and what things soever they naturally know, like dumb beasts, in these they are corrupted... These are spots in their banquets, feasting together without fear, feeding themselves, clouds without water, which are carried about by winds; trees of the autumn, unfruitful, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own confusion; wandering stars: to whom the storm of darkness is reserved for ever... Murmurers, full of complaints, walking according to their own desires, and their mouth speaketh proud things, admiring persons for gain's sake... These are they who separate themselves, sensual men, having not the Spirit."

Now it is thus that, in this miserable age of the Church, men relax the divine and human precepts, and discipline is enervated — without sinews. The holy Canons are counted as nothing, and the laws of the Church are no better observed by the clergy than civil laws are among the people. Hence we are like creeping things on the earth and in the sea, and like birds in the air: each one is carried away to believe and to do what he wills, according to the instinct of the flesh.

II. From this follows: These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. These seven Spirits of God are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus Christ sent throughout the world and revealed to the nations in the truth of the faith. The seven stars designate the universality of bishops and doctors, as has been shown above.

These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars — that is, Jesus, the Son of God, to whom all power has been given in heaven and on earth, has in His power the seven spirits of the truth of the faith, and the seven stars: the prelates and doctors whom He can take from us and transport to distant nations because of our great crimes, and because of the hardness of our hearts and our unbelief.

This is what He did when He permitted the light of faith to abandon the greater part of Europe, to be transported to the ends of the Indies, which were plunged in the darkness of paganism. He enlightened those nations by the ministry of Saint Francis Xavier and other doctors.

If we do not do penance as soon as possible, conforming our life to that of Jesus Christ, there is reason to fear that this light of faith may be altogether taken from us. By these words, therefore, Christ wishes to awaken His Church by a salutary fear, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And since God can send us no greater scourge than that of blinding His people, by taking from them the gift of the true faith through false doctors whom He raises up in place of the true, as punishment for our abominations and our impenitent hearts, we must therefore, touched by holy fear and covered with sackcloth and ashes, come to prostrate ourselves humbly at the feet of Jesus Christ and say to Him with the Royal Prophet, Psalm 50:13: "Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit," and so forth.

I know thy works. By these words He reproaches the works of this fifth age. I know — that is, thy evil works are not hidden from Me; thy works full of imperfections; thy false and hypocritical works, which have the outward appearance of piety but not the truth of charity.

Thy works — that is, thy pomp, thy splendour, and thy exterior holiness.

I know thy works: I am not ignorant, I who am the searcher of hearts, that in general thy works appear good outwardly, but inwardly they are evil and bring death.

This is why He says and adds: Thou hast the name of being alive, and thou art dead. Now we may have the name of living spiritually in Jesus Christ, the principle of life, in three ways: 1. By faith in Jesus Christ; and from this we bear the name of Christians. 2. By works of justice and charity in Jesus Christ, by whose life every man lives who is not in the state of mortal sin and is in the grace of God. 3. By the observance of the evangelical counsels; by the sacred orders of the episcopate, priesthood, and so forth; by the vows one makes in devoting oneself specially to the religious life, abandoning the pomps, riches, and pleasures of the age, and consecrating oneself to God alone and to His Christ.

Now Jesus Christ reproaches the fifth age above all for being stained with the particular vice of falsely attributing to itself the name of living in Him, while living in an entirely different manner. This is proved by induction: 1. All the heretics who, in the fifth age, are almost as numerous as locusts upon the earth, glory in the name of Christ. They say that they are true Christians and that they live in Jesus Christ; and yet all are dead and shall die eternally, unless they do penance and return to themselves. They have God and His Son Jesus only on their lips, while they have the devil in their heart and the world in their arms. 2. How many thousands of Christians have grown cold in this age of calamity! Considering only the happy success obtained in all things by the heretics, and maliciously observing the morals of ecclesiastics and their manner of life, they indeed preserve the name of Catholics because of a certain fear and human respect, but inwardly they are dead in atheism and indifferentism, in Calvinism and pseudo-politicism, and in hatred against priests.

They have the name of living, because they feign piety. They pretend to have religion; they present themselves as conscientious people by communicating with Catholics and by confessing, in the presence of princes and great men, that they belong to the true faith. They even allow themselves to be employed in pious works and favour them; they see religious and frequent them; they make a show of zeal in their words, in their counsels, and even by a certain exterior zeal for the building of monasteries and colleges, for example. But they do all this in order to have the name of living beings, and to put themselves in favour with men and with the great. They seek to gain the confidence of the world by this appearance of piety and religion, so that afterward they may more easily succeed in their plots and obscure designs.

3. If we examine in detail the small number of Catholics, their justice will appear to us as disgusting as a filthy rag; for most of them give themselves only to pleasures, and are dead in sin. They serve only to be seen. They glory in exterior things, and seem not to know that the sheep is not received without wool; for their Christian charity has grown cold, and they seek only their comfort and personal advantage.

Ordinarily one finds neither justice nor equity in the courts, but only acceptance of persons and gifts, so that lawsuits are endless. Humility is almost unknown in this age, and has had to yield its place to display and vain glory, which are excused under the name of propriety and rank. Christian simplicity is ridiculed and treated as folly and stupidity, while elevated learning is regarded as wisdom — and so is the talent of obscuring, by foolish questions and complicated arguments, all the axioms of law, the precepts of morality, the holy canons, and the dogmas of religion. Thus there is no principle so holy, so authentic, so ancient, and so certain that it can be exempt from the censures, criticisms, interpretations, modifications, delimitations, and questions of men, and so forth.

Churches are indeed frequented, but no reverence is shown there in the presence of Almighty God. People laugh there, talk there, look here and there, jest there, and provoke one another with glances, and so forth. The body is adorned with beautiful clothing, while the soul is stained by the defilements of vice.

The word of God is neglected, despised, and turned into ridicule. There is no longer esteem for Sacred Scripture; it is Machiavelli, Bodin, and all like them who alone are esteemed and appreciated.

Only the mind is cultivated, and not the heart, in the education of children; they are made disobedient, dissolute, fine talkers, chatterers, and irreligious. Parents love them with a disorderly love, hiding their faults, not correcting them, and not making domestic discipline observed. One ought to make of the child a simple and good son, a lover of truth, a true Christian, upright and just; but far greater care is taken that he should become a politician or a scholar. Only when he speaks several languages and has been trained in foreign manners will he be considered a young man of good hope and an accomplished citizen. It will be further required that he know how to feign, dissemble, speak and feel in a new way, adapt himself to everything, and imitate everything like a stage-player. Finally, he must seek his pleasures only in novelties, and so forth.

Thus this age makes its justice and its life consist in falsehood, in outward pomp, in fashion, and in the applause of men, while it neglects true and inward justice, which alone can please God.

4. I shall say nothing of ecclesiastics and religious, how miserable they are; for many of them have the name of being alive, and they are dead, and so forth. This detail must suffice to prove that it is with reason that Jesus Christ addresses reproaches to this fifth age of the Church, saying to it: Thou hast the name of being alive, and thou art dead.

Oh, how few men there are in this age who are truly alive, serving the Lord their God and being the friends of His Christ! The meaning of these words, then, is this: Thou hast the name of being alive, but thou art dead in false doctrine; thou art dead in atheism and pseudo-politicism; thou art dead in hypocrisy and simulated justice; thou art dead in thy hidden sins, in the secret of thy abominations; thou art dead in pleasures and delights; thou art dead in shamelessness, jealousy, and pride; thou art dead in sins of the flesh, in ignorance of the mysteries and of the things necessary for salvation; finally, thou art dead in irreligion and contempt of the word of God; for all charity, which is the only and true life in Jesus Christ, has grown cold in thee.

III. VERSE 2. Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die. By these words He exhorts the pontiffs, prelates, and doctors to vigilance and pastoral solicitude. These ought to be all the greater because the times are more evil and more difficult, and because many wolves have slipped into the world among the sheep; for that very reason the sheep are more exposed to corruption, rapacity, and the danger of perishing, unless they find firm support in the vigilance and solicitude of prelates.

It is therefore deliberately that He says: Be watchful in praying to God for those entrusted to thee, and for the weak in faith. Be watchful in love for sinners. Now the foundation of true vigilance and pastoral solicitude consists in praying frequently, humbly, and devoutly for one's sheep: for the good, that they may be preserved; for the weak, that they may be relieved and strengthened; and finally for the wicked, in order to bring them back to truth and justice, and so forth.

Be watchful over thy person, so that thy thoughts, words, and works may be holy and irreproachable; so that thou mayest be chaste, sober, modest, and not angry, violent, or tyrannical.

Be watchful over thy house and household, so that thy dwelling may be holy and pure from all fornications and scandals.

Be watchful to preserve sound and orthodox doctrine, in order to preach it to adults and teach it to children.

Be watchful; and let each one do his duty: the bishop, the prelate, and so forth.

Be watchful and take care to visit, examine, correct, exhort, console, and protect the prelates, parish priests, and preachers who are under thy jurisdiction.

Be watchful to provide all thy subordinates who are in sound doctrine with good bishops, good prelates, good parish priests, and other good shepherds of souls.

Be watchful against the malice of heretics, against bad books, against false Christians, depraved morals, public vices, scandal, theft, adultery, and so forth.

And strengthen — that is, preserve what remains of Catholics who, little by little, by falling into heresy and atheism, are dying for lack of pastoral vigilance, and so forth.

The text deliberately speaks in a conditional sense: Strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die, because: 1. As has been said, the remnants of Catholics were preserved in Europe by the help of the Council of Trent, the Society of Jesus, and other pious men; and without these remedies all would have fallen into heresy and would have died spiritually. 2. These words are put in a conditional sense so that bishops, prelates, and other shepherds of souls may understand that the salvation or death of souls redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ does not depend on chance or on a blind predestination of God, as cowards and the impious may imagine. Rather, let them know that the life of souls depends on vigilance and solicitude, and that eternal death comes from the scandal and negligence of pastors.

IV. Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die. Here again Jesus Christ commands us and makes the necessity of watching resound in our ears by the voice of the prophet, because we are in evil times and in an age full of dangers and calamities.

Heresy everywhere gains the upper hand again and raises its head; its body is strengthened more than ever, and its followers have obtained power almost everywhere. They are triumphant in the Empire, in kingdoms, and in republics; and they have enriched themselves with the spoils of the Church. This is why many Catholics become lukewarm; why the lukewarm fall away; and why a great number conceive scandal in their hearts.

War is also a cause of ignorance, even in the essential things of faith. The corruption of morals increases in the camps and among soldiers, to whom good pastors, good preachers, and good catechists are rarely granted. Hence the generation remains rough, coarse, and inflexible; ignorant of everything, or almost everything; troubling itself neither with God, nor heaven, nor what is honourable. Knowing only rapine, theft, blasphemy, and falsehood, it studies only how to deceive its neighbour, and so forth.

In the Catholic faith, most are lukewarm, ignorant, deceived by the heretics, who applaud their own prosperity, rejoice in it, and turn true believers into ridicule, seeing them afflicted, impoverished, and desolate. At the same time, no one studies the sacred sciences, because parents are poor, and there is only desolation in most seminaries, which no longer enjoy their revenues and foundation rents.

From what has just been said, and from still other miseries, one clearly understands how great is the danger that threatens the Catholic faith in the Roman Empire. Be watchful, then, O bishops and prelates of the Church of God! Take counsel among yourselves, and reflect maturely with your sheep on the means of procuring for them, in this urgent necessity, pious, zealous, and learned priests who, by their sound word and good examples, shine like a light before the eyes of their sheep, to lead them into good pasture and confirm them in the Catholic faith.

Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain, which are ready to die; for I find not thy works full before my God. Here Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks as man and as the invisible Head of the Church. The Divinity, in the infinite abyss of His eternal foreknowledge, revealed to Him the defects and sins of the future pastors and other members of the Church, and at the same time conferred upon Him the mission of correcting them.

Jesus Christ therefore bases His reproach on the lack of pastoral vigilance and solicitude of which we have spoken above — vigilance and solicitude which God nevertheless requires from the bishops and prelates of the Church. This is why He uses the conjunction for, which unites what precedes with what follows, namely: Be watchful... for I find not thy works full before my God.

That is: thou dost not fulfil thy duty as thou couldst and as thou oughtest to do it. Thou art not sufficiently watchful, and thou hast not enough solicitude for the sheep entrusted to thee; for thy works are not full — that is, they are not perfect in charity — because thou hast little care for the salvation of souls.

For I find not thy works full with regard to ordinations, institutions, promotions, pastoral visitations, and discipline.

I find not thy works full, because thou dost not walk as I received commandment from My Father, and as I Myself walked, in humility, poverty, and the renunciation of the pomps of the age.

This, then, is why Jesus Christ says: For I find not thy works full, to express that they do not please His will, against which thou actest by taking care only of thyself, by being indulgent toward thy person in the blindness of thy self-love and thy pleasures. Thou affectest display; thou art swollen with honours; thou spendest My patrimony on the luxury of the table, the brilliance of courts, the splendour of palaces, a numerous household, the luxury of horses and carriages, the means of exalting and enriching thy relatives — in a word, on the pomp of the age.

Whereas, on the contrary, thou oughtest to employ thy revenues to feed the poor, console widows and orphans, and help Catholics in countries where they have been impoverished and despoiled by the depredations of heretics and other enemies of religion, and where they groan under the yoke for lack of human help. Thou oughtest also to employ thy benefice to favour the studies of young men who lack means, in order to supply the shortage of good pastors, and also to restore ruined churches.

And because all these works belong to the pastoral duty, and yet thou dost not accomplish them, I find not thy works full before My God, who knows thy faults, which will render thee inexcusable at His judgment.

V. VERSE 3. Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast received and heard: and observe, and do penance. Here He applies the remedy to the evil. This remedy is composed of five things.

1. Have in mind therefore. These words recommend frequent meditation on a serious and important truth, and the constant and firm remembrance of pastoral duty. This remembrance, this meditation, is a duty as grave as it is important for bishops, prelates, and other pastors, who must make it the habitual subject of their reflections and engrave it deeply in their memory. The foundation and first remedy, therefore, for prelates, is to correct themselves of their faults and negligence, and to study and know the duties of their office.

2. This is why He says in the second place: Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast received. By these words Jesus Christ designates the quality of the episcopal and pastoral office and duty, which are holy, which have been received by the ministry of angels, and which God has entrusted to men not as a kingdom or an earthly advantage, but for the salvation of souls. For them, He says, I, the eternal Son of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, came down from heaven, became man, was born in a stable, lodged among animals, lived in poverty and humility, conversed with men on earth for thirty-three years, and finally was crucified between two thieves.

O thou, prelate and pastor, thou hast not received this office to be honoured and incensed by men, to give thyself to pleasures and the delights of feasts, to amass gold and silver, to exalt and enrich thy relatives, or to seek the pomps of the age or the vanity of the world, but so that thou mightest be My imitator.

If thou desirest to be admitted among My elect, thou must show thyself pure and immaculate among men, whose model thou oughtest to be, all the more distinguished as the ministry thou hast received as an inheritance is higher, holier, and more perfect. Thy burden is heavy, full of labours, solicitude, and dangers. It therefore requires exact vigilance, the fear of God, continual and tireless prayer, chaste sobriety, and so forth.

Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast received — that is, for what end thou wast instituted pontiff, bishop, prelate: namely, to feed the flock entrusted to thee, to shine like a light in darkness, to be the salt of the earth, and to season spiritually the souls and minds of men; finally, to be the head or chief which gives life to the members and to the ecclesiastical body.

Have in mind therefore in what manner thou hast received from My God so many gifts of nature, fortune, and freely given grace — not in order to enjoy these advantages arbitrarily, but to make them bear fruit like a faithful and useful servant. Thou hast not received these gifts to hide them in the napkin — a biblical expression — of thy self-love, or to bury them in the earth of pleasures and honours, but to make them bear fruit and profit spiritually for My God by thy works of mercy and charity. Thou must use them for widows and orphans, and for sustaining the poor and needy, after the example of My saints.

3. From this comes the third ingredient of the remedy: Have in mind therefore... what thou hast heard in My Gospel: how I conducted Myself among men, and how I gave My life for My sheep. Have in mind what thou hast heard in the Acts and life of My Apostles, what conduct they held. Have in mind what thou hast heard from thy fathers, thy predecessors: the pontiffs, bishops, and prelates of My Church. Thou knowest indeed that they were humble, poor, prudent, sober, chaste, full of solicitude, and adorned with all virtues. Therefore, after the example of thy Lord and Master, of the Apostles, and of the other saints and friends of My God, thou must live as they lived, and conduct thyself as they conducted themselves in this world.

Have in mind what thou hast heard of the life and conduct prescribed by the holy Canons, the writings of the holy Fathers, and the general, provincial, and diocesan councils. Have in mind what thou hast heard recently in the Council of Trent, of all its statutes concerning the life, honesty, and reform which must be observed.

4. This is why He immediately adds the fourth remedy: And observe. These words urge us to observe what has been said above, and they contain at the same time a particular reproach concerning the vice of this age, which consists in almost no longer observing anything of all these indicated duties. For our age is carnal and delicate; it glories in many things, especially in its sublime sciences. And because it knows much, it believes itself entitled to observe nothing.

We indeed have so many holy Canons, so many salutary general and synodal councils, so many good civil laws, spiritual books, interpreters of Sacred Scripture, so many writings of the holy Fathers full of strength and doctrine; finally, so many examples of the saints. And yet we act so little in good works! Ah! It is because we are the children of a carnal age. This is why Christ exhorts us and presses us to imitate and follow in our deeds the straight path which we know, and in which He and His saints walked, giving us an example.

5. The fifth remedy is contained in the words which follow: And do penance. The penance which He prescribes here contains three points: 1. Man must recognise and confess his fault. 2. He must ask pardon of God with a contrite and humbled heart. 3. He must correct himself of his sins, reform his life and conduct, and fulfil the satisfaction due for his faults.

Now, since the perverse generation of this fifth age of the Church does nothing less than all this, Christ therefore exhorts His Church above all to do salutary penance. He proposes it to us not only as the sole necessary remedy for restoring to spiritual life our soul dead in sin, but also as the means of appeasing the wrath of God, of turning away from us the evils which He has poured out upon this generation, and which He will yet pour out in torrents without end, if we do not do penance.

In spite of all this, no one wishes to be converted, as may be proved by induction. Indeed: 1. The heretics who are dead in their errors despise penance, and they do not recognise, or do not wish to recognise, their miserable state. They even glory in it and say that they act well, although they are dead. 2. Among Catholics, few are found who recognise their faults and sins. All bishops, prelates, and shepherds of souls say that they always fulfil their duty well, that they are watchful, and that they live as befits their state. Likewise emperors, kings, princes, counsellors, and judges glory in having acted well and in continuing to act well. All sacred orders claim to be innocent. Finally, the people themselves, from the first to the last, are accustomed to say: What evil have I done, and what evil am I doing? Thus all excuse themselves.

Therefore, so that divine Wisdom and Goodness might bring back to penance this generation, perverted and corrupted to the highest degree, it sent upon it almost continually the evils of war, plague, famine, and other calamities. It is also for this reason that it has quite recently afflicted all Germany by thirty years of continual and astonishing calamities, in order finally to make us open our eyes and oblige us to recognise our sins, and to implore the pardon and mercy of God with a contrite and humbled heart; and also to engage us to reform our life and conduct, each one according to the obligations of his state.

But instead of all this, we have become worse; and we are so blinded that we do not even wish to believe that we are plunged into these evils because of our sins, while Sacred Scripture nevertheless says: "There are no evils in Israel which the Lord has not sent." Hence there is reason to fear that the Lord will become still more exasperated in His wrath, with which He threatens us by the words that follow.

VI. VERSE 3. If then thou shalt not watch, I will come to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will come to thee.

1. After the prescription of the remedy follows a terrible threat against the Church of God. If then thou shalt not watch, after having finally awakened from the deep sleep of thy pleasures, thy laziness, and thy sins in which thou hast slept until now, I will come to thee by raising up misfortunes against thee. He speaks in the future because, as has often been said, the wrath of God, in the long-suffering of His goodness, often threatens us from afar and for a long time. But lest, because of its delay, we think ourselves safe from His blows, He says: I will come to thee, certainly and infallibly. Scripture warns us in the same way in Habacuc 2:3: "Wait for him: he shall surely come, and he shall not be slack."

2. I will come to thee... as a thief. Here He compares His visitation and the sending of His evils to the coming of a thief. For: a. A thief is accustomed to arrive suddenly and unexpectedly. b. He comes during sleep. c. He breaks into the house. d. Finally, he pillages and steals everything.

Now such will be the character of the evil which God will raise up against His Church. This evil will be the heretics and tyrants, who will come suddenly and unexpectedly, who will break into the Church during the sleep of bishops, prelates, and pastors, who will gain the upper hand and ravish or pillage bishoprics, prelatures, and ecclesiastical goods, as we see with our own eyes that they did in Germany and in the rest of Europe. There is even danger that they will continue to dominate and to ravish all that remains.

I will come to thee as a thief, by raising against you the barbarous nations and tyrants, who will come like a thief, suddenly and unexpectedly, while you sleep in your old habits of pleasures, impurities, and abominations. They will break in and penetrate even into fortresses and garrisons. They will enter Italy; they will devastate Rome; they will burn the temples and undermine everything, if you do not do penance and if you do not finally awake from the sleep of your sins.

And thou shalt not know at what hour I will come. Jesus Christ here remarks, as if in passing, the blindness with which God is accustomed to strike the princes of the people, so that they can neither foresee nor consequently prevent the evils that threaten them. For He hides from their eyes, weighed down by the sleep of pleasures, the evils and the vengeance that must assail them.

It is therefore in this sense that He says: And thou shalt not know at what hour I will come — that is, the time of His visitation will be hidden from thy eyes, and thou shalt no longer be able to prevent the evil or prepare thyself for battle, because the enemy will come rapidly and will flood everything like the waters of an impetuous river, like an arrow shot into the air, like lightning, like a swift dog.

VERSE 4. But thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. Now follows the customary praise of a small number, in comparison with the multitude of men who are upon the earth. For however afflicted and desolate the Church may be, and however wicked the world may be, the Lord God has always reserved, and always does reserve, saints, His friends, who shine like a light or like a lighthouse in the midst of the world, to prevent everything from being corrupted and everything from being enveloped in darkness.

But thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments. By these words He indicates the kind of iniquity with which almost the whole universe is soiled and infected, with few exceptions. He designates this kind of iniquity by its resemblance to stained garments.

Now one soils one's garments: a. By the mud and dung one finds when walking through the streets. b. By the filth of various impurities which one uses for the preservation of life. c. By plague and leprosy. These three metaphors signify the universality of grave sins and iniquities in which almost the whole world is miserably plunged, and in which it languishes with even mortal diseases. Indeed, this generation is altogether perverted, delicate, effeminate, soft, carnal, avaricious, and proud. Hence it is sunk in the mud of pleasures and delights, in heresy and in forgetfulness of God its Creator.

Among such a great quantity of different states, and such a great multitude of men in the world, there are only a small number who make exception, and who still believe with all their heart in the Lord God who is in heaven. Few hope in His providence, serve Jesus Christ according to the state of their vocation, and love God and neighbour.

This is why He says: A few names. The Latin text says nomina — names — that is, so small a number that they can easily be called by their names, as it is said in Scripture: "Those whose names are written in the book of life," because of the small number of those who will be saved. "For many are called, but few are chosen."

And they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy. The Apostle here indicates the conduct of Christ on earth, whose example this small number of friends will follow. Christ walked clothed in white: a. For He lived among men in the greatest gentleness, purity, humility, poverty, patience, and abandonment; and all these virtues of Jesus are represented by His white garment. b. He walked clothed in white when, being despised by Herod in His blessed Passion, Herod had Him clothed in a white garment and, having treated Him as a fool, sent Him back to Pilate.

Now it is thus that the small number of the elect who keep themselves immaculate in the midst of the age walk, after the example of Christ on earth, in great humility, contempt, poverty, and meekness, and groan in their heart before the Lord their God. They have much to suffer, and are despised and mocked by the world, because their life and conduct are regarded only as folly.

This is indeed how the world is accustomed to treat the saints of God; this is how it has always judged them, and how it did not blush to judge the only Son of God Himself, who came from heaven for the salvation of men. Therefore Jesus Christ says, to console His friends, John 15:17: "These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember my word that I said to you: the servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you."

Indeed, friendship with this world is enmity before the Lord, and friendship with God is enmity with the world. Hence the text says: They shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy.

The friendship and esteem of God for His just ones and His friends astonish us, in that He wills and permits them to wander in the world, covered with sheepskins, despised, impoverished, vile, amid tribulations, persecutions, injuries, outrages, temptations, cold, nakedness, and so forth. On the contrary, the world and those who are of the world prosper in delights, live in glory and riches, laugh and rejoice in the abundance of all goods. Now such is the friendship of God for His elect, of whom the world is not worthy.

Hence this passage of Saint Paul to the Hebrews 11:35: "Others were racked, 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, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: of whom the world was not worthy."

This is what the holy Apostles of God knew very well, who returned full of joy from the council, because they had been found worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.

VII. VERSE 5. He that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments. These words contain the promise of a reward, a recompense, and full consolation in the other life. It is by this promise that He exhorts us, His soldiers, and stimulates us to victory.

He that shall overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil; he that shall overcome by escaping from the yoke of the devil, to whom he had formerly been subject by his sins and pleasures, and shall do penance; he that shall overcome by practising charity toward God and neighbour, which blots out the multitude of our sins; he that shall overcome by persevering in the true Catholic faith amid so many defections, scandals, and afflictions of Christians; he that shall overcome the persecutions, tribulations, anguish, and calamities brought by heretics and bad Christians; he that shall overcome ruses, deceptions, and falsehoods, in prudence and true Christian simplicity; finally, he that shall overcome by persevering in holy doctrine, by holy morals, and by the sincerity of charity — that man shall thus be clothed in white.

That is, he shall be fully recompensed according to the measure of his sufferings. For the more one has been despised in this world, the more glory one shall have in the other; as many tribulations, so many consolations. The more one has been oppressed in humility, poverty, nakedness, thirst, misery, persecutions, tribulations, and adversities of this world, the more one shall be exalted in the other life. One shall abound in heavenly riches; one shall be clothed with the star of immortality, filled with the fullness of all delights, which shall never again be taken away.

It is therefore for the greatest consolation of the afflicted that He adds the particle thus.

And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. The book of life is predestination, or the eternal foreknowledge of God, by which He has certainly and infallibly prepared His kingdom for His elect from all eternity, according to the works of each one. Such, then, is the promise He makes here for the consolation of His friends and the just: And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life — that is, he shall remain inscribed as heir in the testament of the eternal inheritance, which no one shall ever take from him, unto ages of ages.

And I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. The confession of Christ shall be the greatest honour of the saints in heaven. This confession, which is often repeated in the Evangelists, is here promised to those who shall have confessed His holy Name on earth, and who shall have kept it not only by mouth, but also by heart and in deeds.

Now this confession of men for the holy Name of Jesus before the world is altogether foreign to the perverse generation of our age, for almost all confess by mouth that they know Christ, and deny Him by their deeds. But this confession of Christ before His Father is promised here only to His faithful servants, as a special reward, as a stimulus of His soldiers to victory, and as the greatest honour He reserves for them: to be praised and confessed by Him even before His Father, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and in the presence of millions of angels and all the saints of God.

§ 2. On the Sixth Age of the Church, Which Shall Be an Age of Consolation, Beginning with the Holy Pontiff and the Powerful Monarch, and Lasting Until the Appearance of Antichrist. Chapter 3, Verses 7–13

I. VERSE 7. And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write.

The sixth age of the Church will begin with the powerful Monarch and the holy Pontiff of whom mention has already been made, and will last until the appearance of Antichrist. This age will be an age of consolation (consolativus), in which God will console His holy Church for the affliction and great tribulations which she endured in the fifth age. All nations will be brought back to the unity of the Catholic faith.

The priesthood will flourish more than ever, and men will seek the kingdom of God and His justice with all solicitude. The Lord will give His Church good shepherds. Men will live in peace, each one in his vineyard and in his field. This peace will be granted to them because they will have been reconciled with God Himself. They will live under the shadow of the wings of the powerful Monarch and of his successors.

We find the type of this age in the sixth epoch of the world, which began with the emancipation of the people of Israel and the restoration of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, and lasted until the coming of Jesus Christ.

For just as, in that epoch, the people of Israel were consoled in the highest degree by the Lord their God through deliverance from captivity; as Jerusalem and its temple were restored; as the kingdoms, nations, and peoples subject to the Roman Empire were conquered and subdued by Caesar Augustus, a very powerful and very distinguished monarch, who governed them for fifty-six years, restored peace to the universe, and reigned alone until the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and even after; so also, in the sixth age, God will gladden His Church by the greatest prosperity.

For although in the fifth age we see everywhere the most deplorable calamities — while all is devastated by war; while Catholics are oppressed by heretics and bad Christians; while the Church and her ministers are made tributary; while principalities are overthrown; while monarchs are killed, subjects rejected, and all men conspire to erect republics — nevertheless an astonishing change will be wrought by the hand of Almighty God, such as no one can humanly imagine.

For that powerful Monarch, who will come as one sent by God, will destroy the republics from their foundations; he will subject all things to his power (sibi subjugabit omnia) and will use his zeal for the true Church of Christ. All heresies will be relegated to hell. The empire of the Turks will be broken, and this Monarch will reign in the East and in the West. All nations will come and adore the Lord their God in the true Catholic and Roman faith. Many saints and doctors will flourish upon the earth.

Men will love judgment and justice. Peace will reign throughout the whole universe, because the divine power will bind Satan for many years, until the son of perdition comes, who will loose him again.

It is also to this sixth age, because of the likeness of its perfection, that the sixth day of creation corresponds: when God made man in His likeness and subjected to him all the creatures of the world, so that he might be their lord and master.

Now it is in this way that this Monarch will rule over all the beasts of the earth — that is, over barbarous nations, rebellious peoples, heretical republics, and all men dominated by their evil passions.

To this sixth age also belongs the sixth Spirit of the Lord: namely, the spirit of wisdom, which God will then pour out abundantly over the whole surface of the globe.

For men will fear the Lord their God; they will observe His law and serve Him with all their heart. The sciences will be multiplied and perfected upon the earth. Sacred Scripture will be understood unanimously, without controversy and without the error of heresies. Men will be enlightened both in the natural sciences and in the heavenly sciences.

Finally, the Church of Philadelphia is the type of this sixth age. For Philadelphia means "love of the brother" (amor fratris salutans), and also "preserving the inheritance in union with the Lord" (hereditatem salvans adhaerente Domino). Now all these characteristics perfectly suit this sixth age, in which there will be love, concord, and perfect peace, and in which the powerful Monarch will be able to regard almost the whole world as his inheritance.

He will deliver the earth, with the help of the Lord his God, from all its enemies, from ruins, and from every evil.

II. These things saith the Holy One and the True One, he that hath the key of David; he that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth, and no man openeth.

As he is accustomed to do in the description of each age, Saint John again designates here, by these first words, certain insignia of Our Lord Jesus Christ — insignia which He bears not only in Himself, but which He also causes to shine outwardly in His members and in His body, which is the Church, in a particular manner in the sixth age.

These things saith the Holy One — the Saint of saints, and true God and man. It is because of these infinite insignia, which are holiness and truth, and which belong to Our Lord Jesus Christ by the divine hypostasis, that every knee must bow before Him, in heaven, on earth, and in hell.

He is also called here Holy and True as Head of His members and of His body, which is the Church; and also because His Church will be especially holy and true in the sixth age. She will be holy because men will then walk with all their heart in the ways of the Lord, and will seek the kingdom of God with all solicitude. The Church will be true because, after all sects have been relegated to hell, she will be recognised as true over the whole surface of the earth.

He that hath the key of David. By these words is understood the royal and universal power which Christ possesses over His Church, a power which He will preserve until the consummation of the age, in execution of the will and counsels of God the Father. Matthew 28:18: "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth."

Moreover, it is said here that Christ has the key of David because David and his kingdom were the figure of Jesus Christ and of His kingdom, as is seen in the books of the prophets.

He that openeth, and no man shutteth; shutteth, and no man openeth. These words express the power of this key of Christ. It is an unlimited power, founded upon His power alone, able to distribute goods and evils according to His will. Therefore it is said: He opens the door to goods by spreading them abroad, and He opens the door to evils by permitting them.

And no man shutteth — that is, no one can prevent the decrees of His divine will from being accomplished in heaven, on earth, and in hell. The wicked cannot prevent good, and the good cannot prevent evils. For it is said of the wicked in Matthew 16:18: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

And of the just in Ezekiel 14:14: "And if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in the midst of this land" — that is, of a nation which has sinned against the Lord — "they shall deliver their own souls by their justice, saith the Lord of hosts."

He shutteth, and no man openeth — that is, on the other hand, He makes the evils of His Church disappear in their time, and restores goods to her. Then He permits chastisements anew, and there is no one who can remove them from His hand or prevent them, according as it is written in Psalm 103:28–30: "When thou shalt give it them, they shall gather it up: when thou shalt open thy hand, they shall all be filled with good. But if thou turnest away thy face, they shall be troubled; thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to their dust. Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth."

I know thy works. These words are a general praise of the works of the sixth age, just as above they expressed blame concerning the works of the fifth. I know thy works — which are all holy, good, perfect, and full of charity, as the sequel will show.

VERSE 8. Behold, I have given before thee a door opened, which no man can shut: because thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

These words are full of consolation. They describe the future happiness of the sixth age, a happiness which will consist in three things.

1. In the true, clear, and unanimous interpretation of Sacred Scripture. For then the darkness of errors and the false doctrines of heretics, which are nothing other than the doctrines of demons, will be dissipated and will disappear. The faithful of Christ, spread over the whole surface of the globe, will be attached to the Church in heart and mind, in the unity of faith and in the observance of good morals. This is why it is said: I have given before thee a door opened — that is, a clear and deep understanding of Sacred Scripture. Which no man can shut — meaning that no heretic will any longer be able to pervert the sense of the word of God; because in this sixth age there will be an ecumenical council, the greatest that has ever taken place, in which, by a special favour of God, by the power of the announced Monarch, by the authority of the holy Pontiff, and by the unity of the most pious princes, all heresies and atheism will be proscribed and banished from the earth. There the legitimate sense of Sacred Scripture will be declared, and it will be believed and admitted by all the world, because God will have opened the door of His grace.

2. This happiness will consist in an immense number of faithful. For in that time all peoples and nations will flow toward one sheepfold, and will enter through the one door of the true faith. Thus will be fulfilled the prophecy of John 10:16: "There shall be one fold and one shepherd." And also that other prophecy of Matthew 24:14: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations; and then shall the consummation come." Now it is also in this sense that it is said here: I have given before thee a door opened — the door of faith and of the salvation of souls, a door which had been closed to an innumerable multitude of men in the fifth age, because of heresies and the abominations of sinners. It was for this reason that the sheepfold was then restricted, degraded, humbled, and despised in the highest degree. But now the door is opened before thee; it is open to all, like the great portal of a royal palace when there are neither enemies nor sedition to fear.

3. This happiness will consist in the multitude of the predestined. Indeed, a great number of the faithful will be saved in that time, because the true faith will shine with splendour, and justice will abound. I have given before thee a door opened — the door of heaven, which no one can shut until the appointed time. The Latin text begins with the particle ecce, behold, because, as has been said elsewhere, this word excites our mind to conceive something great and admirable in this work which God will accomplish for our consolation, for our happiness, and for our spiritual joy.

Because thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word. This passage indicates three causes, or three particular merits, for which God will have pity on His Church and open the door of His mercy in this sixth age.

The first merit is placed in the present: Because thou hast a little strength. These words express the industry of the servants of God who will prudently and zealously use the little strength they have received from Him, and will thus obtain very great fruits by the conversion of sinners and heretics. And it is this great effort which they will have made, especially at the beginning of the sixth age, to bring about these conversions, that Jesus Christ will reward with great prosperity.

The second and third merits are placed in the past: Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my faith. By this He designates the constancy and perseverance of His servants in His love and in His faith. For, toward the end of the fifth age, these servants, though having little strength, will nevertheless rise up against the sinners who denied the faith because of earthly goods.

They will also rise up against certain priests who, seduced by the beauty and attractions of women, will wish to abandon celibacy. Now, at a time when the devil will enjoy an almost absolute and universal liberty, and when the greatest tribulation will rage upon the earth, these faithful servants, united among themselves by the strongest bonds, will protect celibacy by keeping themselves pure in the midst of the age.

They will appear vile in the eyes of men, and will see themselves despised and rejected by the world, which will turn them into ridicule. But the Saviour Jesus Christ, in His goodness, will regard with a favourable eye their patience, their industry, their constancy, and their perseverance; and He will reward them in the sixth age by seconding and favouring their efforts in the conversion of sinners and heretics.

Because thou hast a little strength — because thou art unknown and without power, without riches and without glory; and because the grace of God has been given and distributed to thee only in measure; nevertheless, thou hast made the greatest efforts in thy zeal and burning charity for the holy Name of Jesus, for His Church, and for the salvation of souls. This is why Christ, in His mercy, will finally come to thy help and open the door of the true faith and of penance to heretics and sinners.

And hast kept my word. The word of Christ is taken here for the special doctrine and knowledge of a precept or counsel which was not contained in the old law, and which was altogether contrary to the world. Now the Gospel contains three words of this kind. The first is the precept of the love of enemies and of fraternal charity. Matthew 5. The second is the counsel of continence and celibacy. Matthew 19:12: "There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven." The third word is the patience which we must practise. Matthew 5:39–40: "If one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other. And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him." Now it is said in the text: And hast kept my word — that is, the word of fraternal charity, of celibacy, of patience, and of meekness; the word which God pronounced from His blessed mouth, and which He Himself observed.

And hast not denied my name. The Latin text says: Thou hast not denied my faith. Now faith is most often denied because of riches, honours, and pleasures. But the servants of Christ will despise these three concupiscences toward the end of the fifth age, and they will lead a humble life, without seeking dignities or power. They will be despised and ignored by the great, and they will rejoice in it. They will sacrifice their revenues for the poor, and for the building up and propagation of the Catholic Church, which they will love as their mother.

They will walk in the simplicity of their heart in the presence of God and men; and it is for this reason that their hidden life will be considered folly. The wisdom of this world consists in keeping what one possesses and increasing it. These true faithful, on the contrary, will despise earthly goods and honours, and will preserve themselves from defilements with women. Their conversation will be in conformity with the holiness of their vocation.

Therefore, when they see their fellow-men apostatise and deny the faith of Jesus Christ because of riches, honours, and pleasures, they will groan in their heart before their God, and they will persevere in the true principles of the Catholic faith. It is therefore with reason that Jesus Christ addresses to them this praise: And thou hast not denied my faith.

III. VERSE 9. Behold, I will bring of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and adore before thy feet. And they shall know that I have loved thee.

Now follows the promise of a very abundant grace of God, who is accustomed to assist and crown with success the pious efforts of His servants, and to reward their fidelity, constancy, and perseverance in the good they undertake.

The Latin text cited above contains the particle ecce, behold, three times: 1. Ecce dedi coram te ostium apertum — Behold, I have opened before thee a door. 2. Ecce dabo — Behold, I will give. 3. Ecce faciam — Behold, I will make. This is to elevate our mind and make us conceive how great and admirable are the works of divine mercy, which is about to manifest the riches of His glory, His grace, and His infinite goodness.

First, Ecce, behold. He addresses Himself first to His servants and says to them: Behold the fruits of thy labour and of thy works. Second, Ecce dabo, I will give thee what thou hast so long called for by thy tears and pious groanings. Third, Ecce, behold. Behold, I am going to do what no one believed. Console thyself now, therefore; for I will bring of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.

Now in the synagogue of Satan are the Jews and those who err in the faith by admitting the false doctrine of the devil, the father of lies. Likewise, by the Jews are also understood, figuratively and allegorically, heretics and schismatics who say they are Christians, but are not, and are liars. Jesus Christ therefore promises here the conversion of heretics, schismatics, and all those who err in the faith. And this conversion will take place in the sixth age, when the Greek Church will be reunited to the Latin Church.

Behold, I will make them to come and adore before thy feet. These words express the strength, efficacy, and abundance of the grace and goodness of God, who will cause entire nations, and even all peoples, to come to adore Him by submitting themselves to the Catholic Church, which will become their mother. And I will make, by the light of My grace, that they come spontaneously and no longer forced by war and by the sword.

I will make them to adore before thy feet — that is, to humble themselves and submit to thy spiritual power. From what has just been said, one sees what faith and what confidence all prelates and shepherds of souls must have in the grace of God, without which everything totters and nothing is accomplished.

For nearly a hundred years now men have fought against heretics, not only by strong and heated discussions and by the most learned writings, but also by force of arms; every means has been tried, and yet no success has been obtained. Therefore there remains nothing else for us to do but to have recourse to the Lord our God, to humble ourselves, to lead a holy life, and to labour ardently to preserve the remnants of Catholicism until it pleases Jesus Christ finally to have pity on His Church — which He cannot forget — and to have regard for the efforts of His servants, who continue to fear and serve Him.

Let us therefore place our hope and a lively confidence in the all-powerful grace of Jesus Christ, who can enlighten the blinded minds of miserable sinners and heretics by a single ray of His light. It is this confidence that the Psalmist recommends to us in Psalm 30, from verse 3 to verse 7.

And they shall know that I have loved thee — that is, they shall confess that thou art My only chosen and beloved spouse, the true Church and heiress of the heavenly kingdom, outside of which there is no salvation. For in the sixth age the Catholic Church will be raised to the summit of her temporal glory, and she will be exalted from sea to sea. There will then be no more controversies or questions among men to know which is the true Church.

This is why it is said: They shall know — that is, what in our fifth age is so disputed and debated will be brought into full daylight in the sixth. It is thus that divine goodness knows how to draw good from evil by permitting heresies and tribulations, so that His holy Name may be better known. We have an example of this in all the errors which appeared at different epochs, and which, however dreadful they were, disappeared again by the power of divine truth.

We will cite only the error of Arius against the divinity of Jesus Christ. Was there ever one like it for obstinacy? Now the modern heresy may certainly be compared to it.

VERSE 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

The hour of temptation which is to come, and which is here predicted, is the time of the persecution of Antichrist, which Our Lord prophesied in Matthew 24 and in Daniel 11 and 12. He calls it the hour of temptation because it will last only a little while, and because the seventh age of the Church will be short, as we shall see later.

Divine goodness is accustomed to preserve His elect from the hour of temptation and from times of calamity by two means: 1. By calling them to Himself in peace, through natural death, before evils and tribulations surprise them. He granted this grace to Ezechias, to Josias, and to other saints of the Old and New Testament. 2. He also preserves His own, not by taking them from this world, but by delivering them from evil. John 17:15: "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from evil." It was in this way that Jesus Christ sent His Apostles and His disciples into the midst of wolves.

Now it is by these two means that God will preserve His Church, in the sixth age, from the hour of the temptation of Antichrist. First, by calling her to Himself; because, at the end of the sixth age, charity will grow cold, sins will begin to multiply, and a perverse generation and unfaithful children will gradually arise. The just, the saints, the good prelates, and the good shepherds will then be taken away in great number by a natural death; and in their place will come lukewarm and carnal men, who will care only for themselves and who will be like trees without fruit, wandering stars, and clouds without water.

Second, Jesus Christ will preserve His Church from evil without taking her from this world. For the Church will last until the consummation of the ages; and there will remain in her, in comparison with so great a multitude of the wicked, only a few saints and doctors, whom God will send into the midst of wolves to teach truth and justice to many. These will fall by the sword, in flames, in chains, and in ruin. Daniel 11. God will thus preserve these last elect from the hour of temptation by delivering them from evil — that is, by preventing them from consenting to the impiety of the furious tyrant, and by helping them to die for truth, for justice, and for the faith of Jesus Christ.

VERSE 11. Behold, I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

These words contain a salutary warning of the sudden and unexpected arrival of Jesus Christ, together with an exhortation for the faithful to continue in the good way. These are, as it were, two shields of the first necessity, which He presents to us at once against the last tribulation described in Matthew 24.

First, at that time men will think that the reign of Antichrist will be of excessive duration because of the great happiness and power of that tyrant. The Jews and the other unbelievers who will receive him as the Messias will believe his reign to be eternal. Now it is in order to overthrow this presumption and destroy this falsehood that He says here: Behold, I come quickly.

Second, just as in the time of the horrible persecution of Diocletian — which was the living prototype of Antichrist — several faithful denied the faith of Jesus Christ and sacrificed to idols, among whom was even the holy Pope Marcellinus, who afterward did penance and courageously suffered martyrdom; and just as, among the forty martyrs of the time of Emperor Licinius, there was one who fell away, whose crown was afterward given to Janitor; so also will it happen in the persecution of the end times, and worse still, for that persecution will surpass all those which preceded it. That is why Jesus Christ, like a general-in-chief, takes care to warn His soldiers in advance, arming them with the shield that is supremely necessary: strength, constancy, and perseverance.

VERSE 12. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my new name.

To give more strength to His beloved soldiers, and to confirm them further in the last and most terrible persecution, Our Lord Jesus Christ causes the promise of the greatest goods to follow in the text, as a reward proportioned to the difficult victories which the just will have won over the tyrant.

The first of these victories will be firmness and constancy, by which they will be like pillars of perseverance in the Church of Christ. They will resist the fury of the tyrant, his false miracles, and his diabolical inventions; and they will sacrifice their body, their blood, and their life for truth and justice.

The second victory will be the confession of the true God, who created heaven and earth and all that they contain. It is against this confession that Antichrist will especially rage, and he will set himself up as the god of gods.

The third victory will be the firm faith and fidelity of the Church of Christ, which Antichrist will reject as an imposture, and which in his fury he will scatter to the four winds of heaven, upon arid mountains and in caves.

The fourth, finally, will be the confession of the Name of Jesus Christ, against which the tyrant will rise up. He will glory in his false miracles, which he will perform by means of diabolical artifices. He will call himself the Messias, and he will be received as such by the Jews, according to the words of Jesus Christ Himself in John 5:43: "I am come in the name of my Father, and you receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive."

To these four virtues, merits, and distinguished victories of the just, God promises, in proportion, four kinds of rewards and glories.

The first is contained in these words: I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. Columns are placed in the palaces of kings to support the mass of the building, to be its glory and ornament, and to heighten its splendour. Now it is thus that the just of God who, in the temple of Christ — that is, in the Church militant — will have been, by the firmness of their faith, columns of the truth and justice of Jesus Christ, defending them, preaching them, fighting and dying for them; it is thus, we say again, that in the temple of God and in the Church triumphant, the just will also be eternal columns, shining with glory in the presence of all the saints and all the angels of heaven.

Then, as these just ones will have faithfully and constantly remained in the temple of God on earth — that is, in the Catholic Church — without ever leaving it to go into the sects of Antichrist and of other heretics, abandoning the true faith; so also will they remain in the eternal temple of God, never again to go out. They will be immortal, impeccable, stable, and immutable for eternity. They will have no more pains to suffer and will shed no more tears.

Finally, death, hunger, thirst, and all the other miseries of body and soul will no longer have power over them.

The second reward is found in these words: And I will write upon him the name of my God. For they will be like Him, according to Saint John; and they will even be called gods, as is seen in Psalm 81:6: "I have said: You are gods, and all of you the sons of the most High."

The third reward is expressed thus: And I will write upon him... the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God. That is, the just will be the temple of God, in which the King of kings and Lord of lords will deign to dwell; and they will possess Him throughout eternity by the beatific vision.

The fourth reward, finally, is found in these words: And I will write upon him... my new name. This means that He will honour the just with His Name; for they will be called the sons of God, according to Saint John 3:1.

VERSE 13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. The same explanation as above.

§ 3. On the Seventh and Last Age of the Church, Which Shall Be the Age of Desolation, Beginning with the Appearance of Antichrist and Lasting Until the End of the World. Chapter 3, Verses 14–22

I. VERSE 14. And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God.

The seventh and last age of the Church will begin with the appearance of Antichrist, and will last until the end of the world. It will be an age of desolation, in which there will be a total defection from the faith. Luke 18:8: "But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?"

It is in this age that the abomination of desolation described in Saint Matthew 24 and in Daniel 11 and 12 will be accomplished. It is then also that the age will be brought to an end, and that the word of the divine will shall be fulfilled.

To this age belongs the seventh day of the creation of the world, when God, after having finished His work, rested on the seventh day. Genesis 2. Now it is in this way that, in the seventh age of the Church, God will finish His spiritual work, which He had decreed to accomplish through His Son Jesus Christ. And afterward He will rest with His saints throughout all eternity.

This age is also figured by the seventh Spirit of the Lord: the Spirit of knowledge. For in that time it will be clearly known, after Antichrist has been destroyed and cast into hell, that Jesus Christ came upon the earth as man. And then those among the Jews who remain will do penance. This age is again figured by the seventh Spirit of the Lord because then knowledge will be multiplied upon the earth, according to Daniel 12:4. Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and every eye shall see Him.

Moreover, this seventh age is represented by the seventh epoch of the world. For just as that epoch will be the last which brings the age to its end, so also the seventh age will be the last age of the Church.

Finally, the type of this age is the Church of Laodicea, which is explained by "vomiting." Now this word suits the last age, during which, while waiting for Antichrist to come into power, charity will grow cold, faith will be lost, all kingdoms will be in trouble and agitation and will be divided among themselves; and there will arise a race of selfish, careless, and lukewarm men.

Pastors, prelates, and princes will be deceivers, like trees of autumn, without leaves and without the fruits of good works. They will be like wandering stars and clouds without water. And then Christ will begin to vomit the Church out of His mouth; and He will permit Satan to be loosed and to extend his power everywhere, and the son of perdition to enter into the kingdom, which is the Church.

II. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God. The first words of this text contain new attributes or insignia of Jesus Christ.

These things saith the Amen. The Latin text expresses these last words by the word Amen. Amen is a Hebrew word, which means "true." This word suits Christ perfectly because of the divinity which He has of Himself, and which is His essence, because He is the first Truth. Therefore Saint John says in John 14:6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." This attribute cannot belong to any ordinary man, because every man is a liar, and God alone is true.

The faithful and true witness of the glory and majesty of the Father, to whom He bore witness, being His own Son, and remaining faithful to Him unto death, even the death of the Cross.

Who is the beginning of the creation of God, because, according to Saint John 1:3, "All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made."

The Apostle begins first by expressing these divine attributes and insignia in order to confirm the minds of His servants in the truth of the Gospel against the impiety of Antichrist, who, glorifying himself as the Lord God of heaven and earth, will blaspheme horribly, saying that Jesus Christ is not God, that He did not become flesh, and that neither His testimony nor His Gospel is true, and so forth.

VERSE 15. I know thy works. By these words, which the Apostle is accustomed to use, He reproaches the works of this age, as is clearly seen from what follows.

Thou art neither cold nor hot — that is, thou hast neither the fear of God nor the fervour of charity, by which thou wouldst put justice and truth into practice. Cold and heat are metaphors which distinguish these two virtues. For, in fact, in the last days iniquity will abound, and the charity of many will grow cold. Saint Matthew 24:12. Therefore Jesus Christ rightly reproaches this age of the Church for being neither cold nor hot.

I would thou wert cold or hot. These words contain a kind of wish, by which Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His fatherly affection, deplores the sad state of His Church, as a father or mother is accustomed to weep over the death of a son or daughter, and as a bridegroom weeps over the bride whom he loved.

VERSE 16. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.

Because thou art lukewarm — that is, because thou languishest, and because thou losest faith, hope, and charity, and consequently no longer observest My commandments by doing works of justice — I will vomit thee out of my mouth.

A man is accustomed to reject from his mouth what seems to him bad and disagreeable, as, for example, lukewarm water, which represents, by a true metaphor, the faithful person languishing in faith, hope, and charity, and who is Christian only in name. It is for this reason, therefore, that He says: I will vomit thee out of my mouth.

The Latin text says: Incipiam — "I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth"; that is, I will begin little by little to reject thee far from Me, to leave thee, to abandon thee, and to permit thee to fall into heresies.

I will vomit thee out of my mouth — that is, I will permit the nations and Antichrist to trample thee underfoot, as one is accustomed to trample underfoot saliva and lukewarm water that has been thrown to the ground. The Christian people are in the mouth of Christ by faith in His word and in His Gospel; and Jesus Christ vomits them out because of the madness of their abominations, by permitting them to fall into error and to abandon justice.

This is what Jesus Christ will begin to do toward the end of the sixth age; and this is what He will continue in the seventh, when charity grows cold, when iniquity abounds, and when almost all men will totally lose the faith.

VERSE 17. Because thou sayest: I am rich and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. VERSE 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich, and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.

Jesus Christ here reveals, under the form of paternal correction, the vices and defects of this age, against which He also gives salutary counsel and an opportune remedy.

The first of these vices will be a guilty presumption of mind, founded upon self-knowledge, which will so blind men that they will no longer even recognise their sins or their errors. They will harden themselves in their vices, their pleasures, and falsehood to such a point that they will justify themselves and misunderstand sound doctrine.

This is what Jesus Christ expresses by these words: Thou sayest, with false boasting and vain presumption, I am rich — that is, I am endowed with justice, truth, and the most perfect and beautiful sciences. I am wealthy by the knowledge and practice of all the arts. My experience surpasses that of all ages. And I have need of nothing. I do not need to be instructed by others.

This is also the satanic spirit by which pseudo-politicians and false Christians of our age are animated: despising every true science and every sound doctrine, and no longer listening to the directors of souls, they justify themselves in all things and follow only the impulses of their self-love and their perverted will. Thus they run to their own ruin.

From this follows: And thou knowest not — that is, thou dost not recognise that thou art wretched. For thou art indeed wretched because of thy blindness, thy lack of grace and true light, and consequently also wretched because of enmity with God — an enmity which is the greatest of all misfortunes.

But thy misery is all the greater because thou dost not know, or dost not wish to recognise, the evil, nor to use the remedy which I or others propose to thee. Thou art miserable because of the punishment which will follow. Moreover, thou art poor in spiritual merits, merits which cannot subsist in the state of enmity in which thou findest thyself with God. Thou art blind because thou dost not see and dost not recognise thy defects, thy vices, thy poverty, and thy misery. And thou art naked and stripped of the virtues of true faith, hope, charity, justice, and religion; for virtues are like the garment of the soul.

The second vice of this age will be vain confidence in riches, treasures, precious objects, rich ornaments, the magnificence of buildings and churches, and the external splendour of spiritual and temporal things. And because all these advantages will not be united to charity toward God, they will not please Jesus Christ. For the sacrifices of the Old Testament were not accepted by God without mercy.

All these goods will become the prey of Antichrist, who will enjoy the treasures of churches, kings, princes, and great men. He will trample underfoot all that is holy and sacred; he will deliver to the flames and utterly ruin the most magnificent churches. Then there will be the greatest desolation and abomination that has ever been; for everything sacred will be consumed by fire and reduced to ashes.

It is against such misfortunes that Jesus Christ here gives salutary counsel and a precious warning: I counsel thee, thee already in agony and struggling against death, to buy of me, in place of all these treasures, gold fire-tried in the fire of charity and heavenly wisdom, by works of mercy, alms, and pious foundations.

I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire-tried, which the tyrant will not be able to take away from thee, and which no one will be able to corrupt. This is what Saint Lawrence and other holy martyrs did: at the approach of death and in the hour of temptation, they distributed the treasures of the Church to the poor, and bought the tested gold of charity, whose burning flame helped them to endure the flames and all the other torments of tyrants.

This is what the saints of God will have to do, especially in those last times of calamities, after which there will be no more time, and there will be no more need of gold, silver, precious vessels, or treasures.

It is thus that Our Lord Jesus Christ exhorts us paternally: that thou mayest be made rich — that is, that we may be enriched with heavenly treasures which no one can, and no one will be able to, take away from us in eternity, if we make of ourselves the sacrifice of these perishable and short-lived goods.

I counsel thee to buy of me… white garments, that thou mayest be clothed — that is, the garments of virtues and of the advantages which God will give thee in reward for thy charity and thy works of mercy. Buy this gold, that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear. Cover with it thy sins, which are like the nakedness of the soul; for charity obtains for us the pardon of the multitude of our sins.

And anoint thy eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. Eye-salve is a remedy for the eyes. The eyes of the soul are memory and intellect. Now these eyes of the soul are often darkened and blinded by the attraction of earthly goods. The remedy which God here proposes as a spiritual medicine against these two diseases of the eyes, in order to preserve us from spiritual blindness, consists especially in the consideration of the last things, and in meditation on the Holy Scriptures.

These remedies will be especially necessary in these last times for the soldiers of Jesus Christ, because of the horror of the torments, and because of the errors and deceptions of the false prophets, and also because of the scandals and the total loss of faith.

It is therefore for our greatest good that Jesus Christ warns us, saying: Anoint thy eyes with eye-salve — that is, apply the eyes of thy soul to meditation on thy last things; search the Holy Scriptures, in order better to distinguish the vanity of present goods from the solidity of the goods to come. Seek also to distinguish the truth from the iniquity of the tyrant, who will seek to seduce thee by false promises, by flatteries, by false prodigies, and by false miracles.

VERSE 19. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance. Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. That is to say: as a father warns his beloved children, I rebuke thee, I warn thee, and I inform thee of the defects from which thou must correct thyself, and of the dangers which thou must avoid.

And I chastise such as I love, by permitting adversities, tribulations, and persecutions against them in this life; and I subject them to the power of the impious, according to the Psalmist, Psalm 65:12: "Thou hast set men over our heads. We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment."

III. Be zealous therefore, and do penance. These words contain two orders to be followed, which Jesus Christ gives to the faithful who will live in this last trial: good example and penance.

Be zealous therefore. Imitate My courageous and prudent soldiers, who underwent similar persecutions under Diocletian and the other tyrants.

And do penance for thy sins. Rise promptly from thy fall, as Pope Marcellinus did, who, after having sacrificed to the gods through fear of torments and death, nevertheless did penance.

VERSE 20. Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

These words announce to us the arrival and the supper of the Lamb, to which He invites us, saying: Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. Jesus Christ will be at the gate of His Church when He comes for judgment at the end of the world. And He will knock when men see accomplished the signs and the great tribulation which He foretold in Saint Matthew 24:32, where He adds, in the parable of the fig tree: "Know ye that when you shall see all these things, the Son of man is near, even at the doors."

If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door. At that time two voices will be heard: one true and holy, which will be the voice of Jesus Christ; and the other false and impious, which will be the voice of Antichrist and his followers, for they will say that Antichrist is the Messias.

It is against this latter voice that Jesus Christ puts us on our guard when He says in Saint Matthew 24:23: "Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him."

The other voice is the voice of Jesus Christ, who says in Holy Scripture that He is truly the Messias and the Son of God. This voice will be heard by the mouth of Enoch and Elias, and of the other servants of God, who will then resist Antichrist and will preach that Jesus Christ is the true Messias, that He is God and man, and that He became flesh, and so forth.

It is therefore with reason that Jesus Christ says to us here: If any man shall hear my voice and open the door of his heart to me, by believing in Me, I will come in to him by the grace of My consolation, amid all torments and all adversities.

And I will sup with him, and he with me. The bodily supper is the refreshment which man takes before sleep, just as the holy supper is the refreshment of the soul before death. It is in this sense that Jesus Christ says: I will sup with him — that is, I will restore him; I will strengthen him at death by the grace of perseverance. And he with me — that is, he will resist torments unto death, in order afterward to obtain the crown of immortality.

VERSE 21. To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

These words promise to the soldiers of Jesus Christ, who will have been victorious in the last agony of this age, the power and honour of judging the living and the dead, as Jesus Christ also promised to His Apostles in Saint Matthew 19:28: "Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

Now it is in this way that Jesus Christ promises to His servants of the last age a distinguished honour in heaven, which will be judicial power, and the glory of being seated upon a throne, in reward for the difficult victory which they will have won in the greatest of persecutions.

VERSE 22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. The same explanation as above.