have no end. We cannot comprehend the high degree of glory to which David has been raised through his profound abasement to which he was reduced. Those who are happy enough to participate in the annihilation of these great saints will share in their glory.
There are heretics who recognize many saints in the old law but do not want to recognize them in the new. Yet some believe there were no great saints in the ancient law, because Jesus Christ had not died and resurrected yet. Yet there were saints equally in the ancient law and in the new, all sanctified by the sight of Jesus Christ and the blood that he spread. Others say that we are no longer in the time of the saints, as if the hand of God were shortened. They condemn in the current saints what they admire in those who preceded them under the pretext that we are not in the century of saints. This is a horrible abuse. Let them learn that, although in this century malice is at its height, yet it will be the century where there will be the greatest saints which will continue into future centuries. God takes pleasure in making a multitude of innumerable saints in all times and places of the world. If there were no more saints, the world would perish because God only suffers the unjust because of the righteous. They support God in his works, even when they seem close to ruin. We will see this in heaven.
There are seven angels, superior to all the others, who are all light and flames, and are incessantly before the throne of God as lamps always burning to give homage to the sovereign grandeur. These Spirits are the closest to God who has coming out of the throne voices, light, and thunders. This marks the supreme majesty of God, his grandeur and his magnificence. O God, as Moses said who had seen the majesty of God, you are admirable, terrible, merciful, and compassionate (Exodus 34:6).
And in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal. Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. (Rev 4:6–7)
This sea in front of the throne signifies the extreme purity needed to reach the throne and unite with the saints and the church. Just like a few drops of water composes part of the sea, all are mixed, joined, and united into one. We no longer distinguish them individually, unless we separate them out drop by drop. This shows the unity of souls who arrive in God. They are all consummated in their unity, although each has its only small droplet. It is necessary that the soul be annihilated in God to reach his throne. The crystal sea shows the unity and purity of their souls.
The four living creatures, full of eyes are not only the four Evangelists, who have been filled with the knowledge of Jesus Christ, what he has said and done, so that they can announce it to all. They also signify the four states of the church and of his saints. The first, the lion is the state of saints who defended the church and the reign of Jesus Christ with force and vigor and with an invincible courage. These had been elevated and nourished by the lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, who gave them an invincible strength. It was the time of the martyrs. The second creature is like an ox. This is the Spirit of the time of the confessing saints who made their voices heard to defend the church. The third represented a man. This is the time when the saints were employed only to imitate the exterior of Jesus Christ. These were the lives of solitary and anchorite saints who worked in exterior exercises of piety. And the fourth is the one to come which is that of the eagle, that flies over all the others. This is those to whom the interior spirit of Jesus Christ, is communicated. Everything will become interior. It is not that the martyrs did not have the interior, and all the four advantages, noted here. The confessors, the anchorites, and the interiors also participate in the strength and virtues of the interior. But it is because, although these qualities are peculiar to all, they have each excelled in the quality which is particular to them. They are full of eyes because they are full of light and knowledge. They have surrounded the throne of God.
Each creature symbolizes one of these well-known living creatures. We give John the eagle because he is flying higher than anyone else (Ezekiel 17:3). The eagle was in the bosom of divinity and drew marrow from Jesus by discovering through Christ’s humanity the benefits of divinity. The eagle has the overview of everything and takes the highest branch to plant it in fertile ground with abundant waters. He searched for what was most profound in Jesus Christ, his eternal generation. It is certain that the time will come that the purest lights will be discovered in the church. The earthly and animal will be gone, and all will be spiritual and divine. People will need the sun, like the eagle, for the pure lights that will be given to them. All animals have eyes but eyes proportionate to what they are. But the eagle has eyes that see without the dazzling lights of the sun. It is here that the special qualities of man are changed into those of an eagle.
These creatures mark the different states through which souls pass before arriving at the throne. The first stage is all fire, vigor, and courage, like the lion. In Psalm 34:10, David seems to compare himself to a lion, The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. The second animal of ox was like David, when he said, I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee (Psalm 72:23). Following this, we lose this quality of beast, and we become, it seems, all human. We have nothing, neither courage nor stupidity, and we lose this animal life and become entirely human. This is more painful than the others because the human is subject to evil and misery. This is the time of the desolation of the cross. But following this, we become an eagle. As much as we had been attached to the earth, now we become just as detached from the earth. It was this light that made David say, Who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagles (Psalm 103:5). He also says, O that I had wings like a dove! (Psalm 55:6). This state removes the soul from the other three states because the first three hold something from the previous state. But this last state of great purity is entirely different and will come soon.
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” (Rev 4:8)
The six wings of these animals are the means by which they ascended and fled to God. Two wings are understanding and faith, two wings are memory and hope, and two wings are will and love. With these gifts of knowledge and faith, remembering and hope, will and love, we are brought before the throne of God. Faith changes into certain knowledge, hope changes into joyful sight, and the will changes into pure love. The eyes all around and inside mark their exterior and interior illumination. Discovered and penetrated entirely by light, they are at home. They sing day and night without ceasing, which means they sing equally in the day of pleasure and the night of affliction, both in the state of interior light and darkness. They sing, Holy, holy, holy because in all time God is equally holy. They surround the throne to give the glory due because of his holiness. It seems that they say: “You only are holy. We know no other holiness but yours. Nothing is holy except you. We only desire your holiness. Because God only is holy, everything else is impure.” But where does singing of this type come from? Only from God’s holiness, and the desire that everyone recognize him as such. Jesus Christ is a lion, Prince above all others, and the martyrs show his courage. The martyrs give all their glory to the holiness of God. Among the confessors, he is a famous ox whose voice roared above all the others. Jesus Christ is also a human being among the solitaries and anchorites, or those who have a rank in the world. Also, Jesus Christ is the first among the interiors who held the first rank of eagle that will surpass all others in the elevation of their flight.
These four animals cry incessantly God is holy and God is also the Almighty. Because he is only holy, he alone can make saints. God was and is and is to come. Nothing has been, is, and will be except by God. O God, who is infinite glory, what can we give you, you who are infinite? As creatures that you support, we give you all the glory.
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their
