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THE
SEVEN TRUMPETS
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trumpets.
The Church, which is often presented under
the number seven, is commended to the office of preaching. And here
the first trumpet denotes the common destruction of the ungodly
in the fire and hail; the second, the expulsion of the devil from
the Church for the fiercer burning of the sea of the world; the
third, the falling away of heretics from the Church, and their corruption
of the streams of Holy Scripture; the fourth, the defection of false
brethren in the darkening of the stars; the fifth, the greater hostility
of heretics, the precursors of the time of Antichrist;
the sixth, the open war of Antichrist
and his own against the Church, and the destruction of the same
enemy interposed by a recapitulation from the advent of the Lord;
the seventh, the day of judgement, in which the Lord is to render
to His own their reward, and to examinate those who have corrupted
the earth.
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ANOTHER
ANGEL
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came.
He says not, came afterwards; but on announcing that the angels have
received trumpets, he returns to explain in what manner they have
received them. For although the Church preached before the coming
of the Lord, it was not in every place, until it was strengthened
by His Spirit.
stood
before.
He appeared, that is, in the sight of the Church, Himself made the
censer from which God received the odour of a swwet savour, and was
propitiated towards the world. Another version has, "upon
the altar;" because on the altar of the cross, He offered to
the Father for us His own golden censer, that is, His own immaculate
body, conceived by the Holy Spirit.
incense.
He offered incense from the prayers of the saints. For the Church
entrusted to Him her prayers, saying,
"Let my prayer be directed before Thee, as incense." The
same is said both to have taken of the prayers of the saints and to
have offered, because the prayers of all can come with a sweet savour
to the Father by Him.
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smoke.
When Christ the Lord offered Himself a sacrifice of a sweet savour,
the compunction of heart in the saints was made acceptable, for this
arises from fire within, and like smoke is accustomed to excite tears.
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censer.
He fitly introduces a censer filled with fire, for "God giveth
not the Spirit by measure."
And this we know to have been specially fulfilled in respect of the
Incarnation of Christ, "for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of
the Godhead bodily."
earth.
So also the Lord in the Gospel says,
"I am come to send fire upon the earth."
earthquake.
He
shook the earth by the thunder of divine threatening, and the voice
of exhortation, and the lightning of miracles, when some persecuted
and some followed; when the latter said,
"He is a good man," and the former, "Nay, but He deceiveth
people."
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to
sound. The Church, inflamed by the sevenfold Spirit,
prepared herself to preach with confidence, so as to throw down the
glory of the world like the walls of Jericho with heavenly trumpets.
For that compassing about for seven days also suggests the whole time
of the Church.
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THE
FIRST ANGEL
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first.
This announcement of the plagues is rightly compared to a trumpet,
which is the signal of battle. For he saith,
"Lift up thy voice as a trumpet, and declare unto My people their
iniquities;" and in another place,
"Let there be a trumpet in thy mouth, as an eagle upon the house
of the Lord," that is, proclaim with a loud voice that Nebuchadnezzar
will come for the destruction of the temple."
hail.
That the punishment of hell is due to works of blood is announced
by the voice of the preachers, who say,
"they shall pass from snow-water to excessive heat." The
spiritual death of the soul may also be understood under the name
of blood. Tichonius explains the verse in this way: "There followed
the wrath of God upon which the death of many should ensue."
burnt
up. The
life of the good is found in doctors and hearers. For, "Blessed,"
he says, "is he who reads, and he who hears the words of the
prophecy." But the third part of the bad has neither of these.
For, "the earth,
which brings forth fruit in patience, receives blessing from the Lord;
but the bad produces thorns and thistles, whose end is for burning."
So also the Father, Who is the husbandman, cultivates the fruitful,
but cuts down the barren tree, and delivers it as fuel to the fire.
grass.
The grass is all flesh, which is now pampered with the softness of
luxury, but which, when the sun of judgement is hot, loses the flower
of beauty, and as the Lord says,
"To-day is in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven."
Tichonius speaks in this way of the third part in this place: "By
the third he means intestine foes." But whatever is without the
Church is called a third part, and the Church is a third which is
to fight against a two-fold evil.
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THE
SECOND ANGEL
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mountain.
As the Christian religion increased, the devil,
swollen with pride and burning with the fire of his rage, was cast into
the sea of the world, for that the Lord says,
"If ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and cast
thyself into the sea, it shall be done." Not that he was not there
before, but that when he was cast out from the Church, he began to rage
with greater madness against his own, while through the pride of carnal
knowledge he wrought in them spiritual death; for , "To be carnally
minded is death."
But flesh and blood taught not the Apostles, but the Father who is in
heaven,
for they directed the ship of faith in that sea, which yielded itself
to be trodden by the feet of the Lord.
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life.
He said, "Which have lives,"
to represent the living, as spiritually dead; as the Apostle says
of the widow who is living in pleasure, "she is dead, while she
liveth."
were
destroyed. Another
version, by saying, "and they destroyed the third part of the
ships," signifies that the third part which was dead killed another
third, namely, that which came next to itself, by an injurious tradition,
and following of unprofitable doctrine.
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THE
THIRD ANGEL
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star.
Heretics, who are called by the Apostle Jude,
"stars of seduction," fall from the height of the Church,
and by the flame of their own wickedness they endeavour to corrupt the
fountains of the divine Scripture, not the sense of which alone, but
also the words, they dare to falsify. These are worthy of the name of
Wormwood, for a sligth admixture of it is wont to make bitter much sweetness.
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died.
For "many," as the Apostle says,
"follow their own luxuries, through whom the way of truth is evil
spoken of." By the people of God, however, as Moses teaches,
every kind of water can be drunk.
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THE
FOURTH ANGEL
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moon.
The glory of the Church, which shines like a star, is often obscured
through false brethre, who, either in the prosperity or adversity
of the age, cause it to shine less brightly by their defection.
shone
not.
Another version has this, "And that the third part of the day
might appear, and of the night likewise." That is, it was smitten
for this end, that the third part of the day and the third of the
night might appear either to be Christ's or the devil's. To this end,
I say, it was smitten, that is, was given up to its own desires, that
as its sins became more abundant and more flagrant, it might in its
own time be revealed.
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eagle.
The voice of this eagle
daily flies through the mouths of eminent doctors in the Church,
when they announce that the cruelty of Antichrist
and the day of judgment will come with all the severity to those
who are lovers of the earth; while they say, "In the last
days perilous times will be at hand, and men will be lovers of
themselves;"
and below, "men corrupt in mind, reprobate concerning the
faith;" and in another place, "Then will the wicked
one be revealed, who opposes and exalts himself above all that
is called God, or is worshipped;"
and again, "The day of the Lord will so come, as a thief
in the night; for when they shall say, peace and security, then
sudden destruction comes upon them."
three.
Not that the trumpets of the angels bring the plagues upon the world,
but that each of them in his own time announces such as are coming,
or are to come.
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