The Book of Destiny

The Book of Destiny

An Open Statement of the Authentic and Inspired Prophecies of the Old and New Testament

Herman Bernard F. Leonard Kramer

Originally published in 1955 by Buechler Publishing Company, Belleville, Illinois. Reprinted in 1972 by Apostolate of Christian Action, Fresno, California using entirely new type set under the author's supervision, from which this printing has been made.

Copyright © 1955 by Herman Bernard F. Leonard Kramer.

All rights reserved: Movie, television, radio, and foreign language.

Library of Congress Catalog Number: 75-13556

Cover art by Peter Massari.

TAN Books

Charlotte, North Carolina

www.TANBooks.com

2012

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to the LITTLE LAMB, who is the ROOT OF DAVID, the HEAD of the Church, the MASTER and CENTRAL FIGURE OF HISTORY, the RULER over the kings of the earth, the KING of kings and the VICTOR over all evil powers, and who has been shaping the destiny of the world in His own Mysterious Manner since His Sacrificial Death on the Cross.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Father Herman B. Kramer was born in Petersburg, Iowa, March 24, 1884. He lived all his early life in Iowa, attending parish schools in the Diocese of Sioux City. He graduated from business college at the age of 21 with a degree in accounting. A year later, he entered St. Lawrence College (now Seminary) at Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, completing a course in philosophy in five years. He studied theology at Innsbruck, Austria for one year. Ill health forced him to return to America, and he completed his studies at St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was ordained a priest in 1914.

He served as a priest in the Diocese of Sioux City for 40 years in various capacities, including a two-year term as chancellor and 37 years as a pastor. He is presently retired (1975) and residing in Oakland, California. Father Kramer learned to read and write seven languages. He became interested in the Apocalypse after reading it as a student in the seminary, and it later became a life-time study. His world famous Book of Destiny took 30 years to complete and is the result of these years of study.

FOREWORD

The title chosen for this book sets forth the contents of the inspired message revealed to St. John, the Apostle. It is a summing up of the prophetical work in the Bible by the Holy Spirit and a revelation of the Great Causes shaping future history which will constitute the destiny of mankind. This destiny will be created and developed by man's free will. It is the Book of Destiny, because it shows forth the destiny of the whole human race. It is building up now and will grow until the Day of Judgment. This building up began with the renewed persecution of the Christians by Trajan after the benign lull under the Emperor Nerva.

The Apocalypse received its name from the first word of these revelations. Whether St. John gave it this name or not cannot be established. The secrets of the future written in this book have mystified and intrigued the minds of the most inquisitive for nineteen hundred years. St. Vincent Ferrer five hundred years ago and St. Bernardine of Siena a half a century later threatened their hearers with the judgments enumerated in the Apocalypse, but their words were not well heeded. Yet the FIRST WOE was averted from the countries which they envangelized. For a hundred years now the secrets have been quite openly expressed and written about, though with some uncertainty and misgivings, but have not been noticed by the world. In the meantime events have succeeded with increasing speed and growth towards a denouement of the secrets of the GREAT WORLD DRAMA so long wrapped up in mysterious visions. Any day may flash upon the consciousness of men the DESTINY towards which mankind is hastening.

THE AUTHOR

I.

INTRODUCTION

THE APOCALYPSE A PROPHETICAL BOOK

The word PROPHET, derived from the Greek, orginally meant the same as the Hebrew word 'NABI', an interpreter or mouthpiece of God. (Exod. VII. 1-2). The prophet in the Old Testament was commonly called a man of God, being His spokesman, the inspired deliverer of His revelations and the interpreter of His Will and His Designs with the people of Israel. When Samuel was the great leader about 1000 B.C., the prophets were a permanent institution and formed communities or schools, in which young men were educated and trained for their calling to praise God in psalms and hymns, especially when moved by the Holy Spirit (1 Kings X. 5-12). Throughout the history of His people, God chose by an extraordinary act those whom He desired for special manifestations of His Will and Power to Israel. Thus He chose Samuel, Elias, Eliseus, Isaias, Ezechiel and others.

The prophets are divided into two classes: The older prophets, who delivered God's message orally, many of whom were mighty in power and deed; the younger prophets, who appeared later in time and committed their message to writing, although they also preached to people and rulers. All the great prophets envisioned future events and evolutions of history. And therefore the word, PROPHET, eventually came to mean only one who foretells the future. St. Paul (1 Cor. XIV. 24-25) does not use the word exclusively for one who foretells the future but includes those who reveal present secrets. In the Apocalypse, prophecy denotes both a revelation of present secrets and of future facts.

In the Old Testament, the prophets wrote seventeen books during the course of about four hundred years, from 800 to 400 B.C. Thereafter the voice of prophecy became silent. All prophets were held in highest esteem by the Israelites. They exercised far-reaching authority both before and after the Babylonian Captivity. And later, when even the priesthood was in perplexity and doubt, deliberating what course to pursue, they waited till there should come a prophet (1 Macc. IV. 46). But the spirit of prophecy remained dormant in Israel up to the time of our Lord, who is the Prophet of prophets.

Then Mary and Zachary, Simeon and Anne prophesied (Lc. I. 46, 67; II. 29). And our Lord called John the Baptist the greatest of all the prophets, because he held the office of Precursor (Lc. VII. 28).

Jesus Christ was soon recognized as a great prophet. He came into the world endowed with the prophetic dignity, and He exercised this office during His whole public ministry. Even before this, when but twelve years old, He manifested this prerogative (Lc. II. 46). When outlining His mission to the world, He promised His hearers prophets who should reveal new truths as well as interpret the old (Mt. XIII. 52; XXIII. 34). But He obviously had the apostles in mind not the charismatic prophets who appeared later among the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Not our Lord, but the Holy Spirit sent them. The Apostles had the gift of prophecy in a more eminent degree than those who were mere prophets; the prophetical office promised by our Lord was embodied in the apostolate, embracing the power to teach, rule and sanctify the Church, for He made those whom He appointed apostles His spokesmen and the bearers of His message. He conferred the OFFICE of the apostolate on His chosen and appointed ones; while the Holy Spirit, by the graces and charismata He infused into them, endowed them with the ability to carry out the threefold office of the apostolate. Our Lord called and ordained the original apostles for OFFICIAL positions in the Church, and these in turn appointed their successors, the college of bishops. But the GIFT of the apostolate was given by the Holy Spirit to other men not appointed official apostles by the Lord, to those who together with them were gifted to do apostolic work, to preach the Gospel and establish churches. These other apostles received the charismata of the Spirit. There is therefore a distinction to be made between this charismatic gift and the office of the apostolate.

There is likewise a distinction to be made between the gift of prophecy and the office of prophet. The gift of prophecy was a grace of the Spirit, in the light of which wonderful, secret and future things hidden even from the official apostles were revealed to the recipients (Acts XX. 22; XXI. 11). All the charismatic gifts were particular endowments of the Spirit for particular works in the Church. The charismatic prophets were gifted to edify, exhort and console the faithful, as the doctors were to instruct them in their faith. These prophets were not like the prophets of Israel, appointed to hold any jurisdiction in the Church. Such jurisdiction was reserved for the bishops appointed and ordained by the Apostles (Acts XX. 28; Titus 1. 5). In choosing bishops to rule the Church and to continue the work of the apostolate, the Apostles may have considered only those whom the Holy Spirit had endowed with the gift of prophecy, because the grace of prophecy was an efficacious help in the work of the apostolate and ranked next in order to the grace of the apostolate (I. Cor. XII. 28). But that the Apostles gave preference for the episcopate to those who were thus endowed cannot be proven from Scripture.

On Pentecost, St. Peter in his first sermon announced to the world the conferring of the gift of prophecy by the Holy Spirit. But neither his explanation nor our Lord's promise means that a hierarchical order of prophets would be instituted in the Church. St. Peter merely explained that the astounding miracle witnessed by the multitude manifested the presence of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul enumerates prophecy as one of the charismata of the Spirit (1 Cor. XII. 28; XIII. 2; XIV. 3; Eph. III. 5; IV. 11). Greater than the gift of prophecy is charity (1 Cor. XIII. 1 ff). Prophecy is not called an order; it gave no authority to rule; it was but a special gift to extend the power and influence of the Church after the Apostles had established it to bring new converts into it and to edify, exhort and console the believers (1 Cor. XIV. 3, 24).

In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul makes the apostles and prophets the foundation of the Church and Christ the cornerstone. The reference there is clearly to the prophets of the Old Testament. The church pre-existed in the Old Testament, and the prophets were the teachers officially appointed by Jahve as were the Apostles by Jesus Christ, so that the Church of the Old Testament was prophetic in character as that of the New is apostolic. Both the teachings of the prophets and apostles constitute the foundation of the Church, and the revelations of the charismatic prophets are not part of that foundation.

The Apocalypse is a prophetical book (IV. 1), and it ranks St. John with the prophets of the Old Testament (X. 11). The mystery of God had been declared by His servants the prophets (X. 7), and that prediction promised the complete victory of Christ. No records exist of the charismatic prophets making any such predictions. The Apocalypse is so largely a restatement of the Old Testament prophecies, that some have called it a mere compilation. Where the ''prophets and saints are mentioned (XI. 18), the reference is to the Two Witnesses and the martyrs who shall suffer and die under Antichrist. And the same significance is attached to the blood of saints and prophets" (XVI. 6), which calls for the seven last plagues; and the same motive is given for the rejoicing over the fall of Babylon (XIX. 2), the capital of the False Prophet, from which shall issue the edicts of persecution and bloodshed meriting the vengeance of Heaven (XVIII. 24). The ancient prophets had pronounced the judgment upon Old Babylon, and St. John was inspired to pronounce it upon the new. And perhaps the blood of all Old Testament prophets as well as of all martyrs of the Church shall be avenged in the destruction of this city of sin as it was in the destruction of old Jerusalem (Mt. XXIII. 35).

The Apocalypse is not the work of the charismatic prophets but the work of an apostle who is endowed with the gift of prophecy. The Christian prophets contributed no literature to the treasury of the Church as did the prophets of old. The charismata in the Church may have disappeared before the Apocalypse was written, for St. Ignatius mentions no prophets in the churches at the time of his martyrdom. With him the all-important offices are the ranks of the hierarchy, those of bishop, priest and deacon. The prophets he makes reference to are those of the Old Testament (Magn. VIII. 2; Phil. V. 2, 9). Obviously therefore the Christian prophets of apostolic times were an ephemeral product of the Holy Spirit called to convince unbelievers of the divine origin of the Church and never intended to be a permanent teaching force. The Apocalypse does not appear to make any reference to the prophets and other charismatic men so numerous in the days of St. Paul. Chapters I. II. III. IV. treat of the hierarchy as the life-giving principle within the Church, through which the destiny of the Church and the world is to be shaped, and the final enduring victory for Christ and mankind is to be won.

USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

The author of the Apocalypse uses the Old Testament extensively. He not only adapts the symbolism and imagery of the prophets to his needs but gives out a new edition of many prophecies. Whole passages are verbally taken from the Septuagint. Other passages are re-stated and are the substance of prophecies as contained in the Hebrew text. St. John does not make formal quotations from the prophets and does not appeal to their authority, because he writes in the strength of his own apostolic authority, which excells that of the prophets. His verbal extracts from the prophets must then be understood to be interpretations of the obscure Old Testament prophecies. Some coincidences of language, of words and phrases with those of the Greek Septuagint, are no doubt accidental. The common commercial or conversational Greek was adopted in the composition of the Apocalypse, the same as used in the Septuagint. In that simple Greek style, a deep student of the Septuagint would readily use the same words to describe the same visions. For these and other reasons many passages of the Apocalypse are verbally the same as those found in the voluminous contents of the Old Testament. However, from the contents of the Apocalypse, it is perfectly plain, that St. John verbally copied many passages from the O.T. to give them fuller expression and to put them in a context where their true meaning can be easily understood. Such use of the prophets appears decisively intentional in many instances. Many prophecies of the Old Testament are just fragments, are mere glimpses of the future empire of the Messias. St. John takes these fragments and pieces them together and shows the full import of each prophetic glimpse. His work is not a compilation of those prophecies but is as concise as possible a statement of the revelations made to him. Since those revelations were the completed visions, the glimpses of the Old Testament prophecies fit in here and there without an apparent conscious effort by the Apocalyptist.

The apocalyptic visions gave the prophets ages in advance the materials for their prophetical descriptions. In our interpretation, St. John is not supposed to have borrowed any ideas from the Old Testament other than similes and figures of speech by which he gives more vivid expression to some of the descriptions and narratives. The materials of the Apocalypse, where they are the same or similar to those of the Old Testament, are always handled in an original way. So this is not the work of a mere poet who combines ideas and forms of older poets into new forms and new ideas but is a new creation of the prophetic mind. No poet could have taken the prophecies of the Old Testament and made our Apocalypse out of them by his own unaided poetic genius. Whatever St. John borrowed from the Old Testament, he always modified to suit his purpose making the detailed descriptions of the visions sometimes approach nearer to those of the Hebrew version, sometimes to those of the Septuagint. It is claimed that he refers to the book of Daniel in forty-five places. Isaias, Ezechiel and Zacharias are next most frequently in evidence. And the book of Psalms has a large share in his attention. With all that, the book is not a compilation but a logical unity from beginning to end. The logical sequence lies in the text and will be demonstrated in this interpretation. The unity of authorship is also so evident in the text itself, that even without the unvarying external evidence from Christian antiquity, no serious student of the book could find any difficulty in admitting it.

THE AUTHOR OF THE APOCALYPSE

The genuineness of the authorship of the Apocalypse is solidly established from both the internal and external evidence. St. Clement of Rome seems to quote it (Ad. Cor. 34). St Justin quotes it (Dial 81) and according to Eusebius attributes it to St. John (Eus. Hist. Eccl. XVIII. 8). Irenaeus writes a commentary on it and ascribes the book to St. John, the Apostle (Adv. Haer. V. 25-30). Hippolytus writes a large treatise on Antichrist explaining the apocalyptic description about him. Theophilus, Cyprian, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origin and Victorin all attribute the book to St. John, the Apostle. The Apocalypse was in the Itala and in the Sahidic and Bohairic versions of the Bible. It is also enumerated as Scripture in the Muratorian Fragment.

The internal evidence is so decisive especially when combined with the external historical testimony, that no doubt can remain about the authorship. The contents clearly delineate the character of St. John, the beloved disciple. Some of the so called super-critics have tried to overthrow the internal evidence by making a distinction between the Apostle John and the beloved disciple and even another John called the Presbyter. For the deeper and more thorough student of the gospel and epistles of St. John and of the Apocalypse, the same mind and character is prominent in all these documents. Hence those critics realizing the strength of the evidence have tried to ascribe even the gospel to some one else not the Apostle. In the Apocalypse he mentions his name as the author and as a servant of Christ. He writes in the name of Christ with apostolic authority to the seven churches and to all the world. The Apocalypse simply states that it is John who wrote the book. That simple mentioning of his name clinches the argument of his authorship. The name John was a sufficient guarantee of the writer's authority to gain a respectful hearing or reception for the book. He received the revelations on the Island of Patmos. Irregularities of grammar in the composition of the Apocalypse are no proof that the author is not the same one who wrote the gospel. It may have been written by one or more secretaries under St. John's dictation. Or St. John may in his last years have lost some hold on the Greek language, or he may not have taken the time to correct the Greek of his original notes.

THE TIME OF COMPOSITION

The time of its composition is very definitely stated by Irenaeus to have been towards the end of Domitian's reign (V. 30, 3). Irenaeus writes that he met and tarried with Polycarp, the disciple of St. John. The testimony of Eusebius agrees with that of Irenaeus.

From the internal evidence we glean a respite from persecution during which the Apocalypse was written, but Asia might soon expect the arrival of the great tribulation. There were martyrs long ago, as the letters suggest (II. 3, 13), and many of them in the Empire (VI. 10). Now the first persecution was begun by Nero, A.D. 64. The next one was towards the end of Domitian's reign. The Apocalypse quite clearly suggests the reign of Domitian, during which emperor-worship was at a high pitch (II. 13; VI. 2; XIII. 4, 15) reaching its culmination towards the end of his life. The letters reveal that the faith had long been planted in the cities addressed and that some of the people had lost the apostolic fervor, which would suppose that a second generation had grown up, and thirty years or more had passed since the establishment of these congregations. This would bring the composition of the book after the year 90 A.D. Furthermore, St. John could not have interfered in the administration of the churches during the lifetime of St. Paul. But the letters indicate a long acquaintanceship with the churches and a comprehensive knowledge of their spiritual and temporal condition. The mentioning of the Temple in the Apocalypse on the other hand is no proof if its existence, because the Temple mentioned is an ideal temple, like that of Ezechiel.

The so-called HIGHER critics claim the first three verses to be spurious and the work of a later editor or compiler. Only their prejudice could prompt them to thus contradict the internal evidence. For the language of these verses including grammatical irregularities is that of St. John. The first three verses are a suitable introduction. To begin the book with verse four would make it begin like an ordinary epistle. It would be just as logical to reject the first eight verses as the first three and following out the same kind of logic reject the first nine chapters. In the present interpretation, we take the verdict of the true critics and accept the whole received text as genuine. The work of determining the true and authentic text has been completed by the archeologists, commentators, exegetes and textual critics. Such research is therefore superfluous at present and does not come within the scope of our interpretation. Ours is but an attempt to establish and prove some fundamental principles, which seem to be the key to the revelations, and interpret the whole book by adhering to and following out those principles from beginning to end. And the received Greek text makes such an attempt possible. Each word in the text has its rightful place of importance and no word is superfluous. There are some differences in the ancient manuscripts as well as in the quotations of the Fathers, but the textual critics are in agreement on the original text and have adopted the manuscripts that have always been held nearest the original. The Apocalypse has received the same careful study in this regard as all the other books of the New Testament, so that at present there is little disagreement on the true Greek text among Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox scholars.

PURPOSE OF THE APOCALYPSE

The immediate purpose of the Apocalypse is quite evident in many statements. It is plainly to CONSOLE the Christian congregations in the hardships of a virtuous life and in the dangers of practicing their religion with persecutions facing them. Their rights as citizens were jeopardized; their possessions were made evanescent. There was danger that the present persecution begun by Domitian would be extended to Asia. The Christians were viewed with suspicion, because they would have nothing to do with the worship of the gods or the worship of Caesar and kept aloof from many public functions. St. Paul, their spiritual father, had been martyred long ago. This was not the generation which St. Paul had converted but one that had grown up since his martyrdom. They had learned the promises of the Apostle from hearsay. The Parousia of which he had often spoken had not materialized, and therefore a new revelation was necessary to bolster up the courage of the Christians and steady them in their faith. Likewise was such a revelation needed to clear from the churches abuses and relapses into superstitious practices. A revelation that assured judgment upon the enemies of Christ, the speedy Parousia and the final triumph of the kingdom of God was of immediate and constant practical use. So the Apocalypse was of inestimable value to the Church upon its publication. The letters in the second and third chapters explain the dangers existing in the several congregations after each is ex-rayed by the Spirit. In that divine light material prosperity is seen to be far more dangerous than persecution. Each congregation has particular perils to face, and each is in turn specifically directed how to combat these perils.

The Apocalypse is also a book of consolations for all time to come, because the Church will at all times have many trials and persecutions to bear. The most insistent need of consolations shall be during the greatest crisis of its history in the days of Antichrist. The Apocalypse reveals the outcome of all attacks on the Church and the final victory of Christ. Not only does an eternal crown await the martyrs but also the triumph of Christ in the world through their constancy. And not only in the letters but throughout the book, the Christians are warned against drifting with the maelstrom of sin (XIV. 9) and are urged to keep themselves unsullied (XVI. 15) and to hold out until death against persecution (XIII. 10; XIV. 13). The book thus becomes a book of consolations for all times.

In the inspired outlook of St. John, the book was to reach a wide circulation down to the farthest horizons of future generations (XXII. 18). It would, like all other inspired writings be a book for all times, because it is the recital of the victories and the final grand triumph of his beloved Master. St. John recognized both his own gift of prophecy and the revelations as a prophecy (IV. 1-2), and he ranks this book with the other inspired Scriptures (Deut. IV. 2; XII. 32). In the most emphatic language possible, he promises the fullfillment of all prophecies in it.

The Apocalypse not only revealed the triumphs of Christ but of necessity also the sufferings of His Church, His mystical body. The growth and activities of the forces that caused these sufferings had to be revealed too. Thus the Apocalypse re-iterated the statements of Christ in the gospels, that His Church will suffer hatred and persecution but through this persecution will be purified and will win the victory over sin, over the world and over Satan.

The Apocalypse was needed at the time of its appearance for another reason. From the time in which prophecy ceased in Israel until the birth of our Lord, the chosen people had experienced many dire calamities. Those calamities moved many to decide that a prophecy was needed to bolster up the courage of the people and to revive their hope in the ultimate triumph of their nation over their oppressors. Many false prophets then took to writing apocalypses of various kinds. They produced the many aprocryphal apocalypses of pre-Christian and early Christian times. The book of Enoch is the most important of pre-Christian days, while after the destruction of Jerusalem, the apocalypse of Baruch and the IV. book of Esdras appeared. With the destruction of Jerusalem, the hope of that Israel that rejected Christ collapsed. Then, like the false prophets in the days of Jeremias, the false apocalyptists tried to keep alive the false hopes of the antichristian Jews. The revelations made to St. John appeared in the midst of this flood of false apocalypses to save the Christians of Jewish origin from being misled and to reveal the true destiny of God's people.

The text is similar to some passages of the aprocryphal apocalypses, but not because St. John made use of those books. Those books are very largely plagiaristic and had been verbally copied from the apocalyptic prophesies. Hence St. John, in re-stating the Old Testament prophecies, comes very near to the diction of the apocryphal books. He probably knew of the existance of these books, but there is no evidence to prove that they furnished him any material for his Apocalypse. His revelations are real and true, and his book is only the recital of what was revealed to him. His apocalypse bears his own name, while the apocryphal ones all bear the name of some older prophet. That St. John might have used current words and phrases often on the lips of people such as the word logos in the Gospel is not impossible

It was not necessary that the prophecies be understood at once. In fact, if they could have been interpreted as covering thousands of years of Church history, they would not have been so pithy. The Christians were not all of such heroic calibre and of such unwavering constancy as to be willing to lay down their lives, and more, suffer the most excruciating torments for an unseen reward, when those who denied their faith and saved their lives could have the good things of life, repent at leisure and be forgiven before they died. Had they known the true meaning of the prophecies, they might have apostatized during persecution. But the thought that the judgments upon the wicked were to begin at once, and they were to be wiped from the face of the earth, and only the good were to remain to inherit all things was a strong inducement to risk everything on the side on which the only hope of winning existed. Hence the book of the seven seals was a closed book, and when the seals were opened, events were revealed in such mysterious language and symbols, that they could not be understood or interpreted until after their happening. But the revelations contained in the open booklet are not so figurative and might be understood in advance. There is in it a far more minute description of events to come than in the seven seals and the first six trumpets. This is all-important for those who shall be on earth during the greatest crisis of history, the days of Antichrist.

THE IMAGERY OF THE APOCALYPSE

St. John cannot be reasonably supposed to have been versed in all the literature and mythologies of the Greeks and Latins and all other ancient pagan peoples. It might even be going too far to credit him with a knowledge of all apocryphal books of the Jews. Before his call to the apostolate, he surely was not conversant in pagan lore or in spurious Jewish scriptures, and after his call he was the constant companion of our Lord and drank deeply at the divine fount of learning. After the Ascension began the incessant labors of the apostolate. To master the Greek Koiné language, to study the Septuagint version of the Old Testament and to preach the Gospel and establish churches was enough to fill up a human life. Added to that were the wearisome journeys of the apostolic life, during which there could be little time for study, and the all-absorbing attention to the churches established and to the Christians converted. In the light of all this, it seems unreasonable to consider an apostle as having time to study pagan literature so thoroughly as would enable him to adopt its phraseology and imagery spontaneously when writing an inspired book.

In our interpretation all borrowing from pagan sources and all allusions to mythology are rejected, and the traditional view is held that the visions are true and real, and that St. John labored to depict them as exactly and concisely as was possible with his knowledge of the Greek language. The Holy Spirit, as appears throughout the Old and New Testaments, accommodates Himself to the imagination, mind, will, temperament, attainments and experience of the one He inspires. In conveying to the writer the truths to be revealed, He excites those images that most naturally shape themselves in the seer's mind, higher or lower in the intellectual scale, consonant with his natural and acquired gifts. And He arouses those emotions that are most exactly expressive of the writer's character and temperament. The Prophet Amos, being a shepherd, uses pastoral similes and symbols to illustrate his message. Daniel, who spent most of his days at court, receives revelations concerning kingdoms and empires. Ezechiel, who was of priestly family, is ever solicitous about the Temple and the worship of the Deity and traces out the consequences of false worship. And St. John in the Gospel and epistles manifests a character of the highest spiritual tone. He begins the Gospel with the loftiest flight of imagination and theology and during the whole narrative maintains the same spiritual elevation of thought. The Apocalypse presents the same mind and heart, the same imaginative power, emotions and temperament as the Gospel and the epistles?

In the composition of the Apocalypse, which treats of a subject very different from that of the epistles and Gospel, St. John necessarily exhibited with prominence those faculties of the mind that were in the background in the other writings and relegated to the background those faculties that were in evidence in the Gospel composition. The Gospel was more subjective in tone, while the Apocalypse is more objective. The mind, heart and character of St. John were eminently qualified to receive these revelations. The great prophets of the Old Testament had received only glimpses of these and similar visions. But since St. John was spiritually and morally far superior to the ancient prophets, his qualifications made him worthy of receiving the complete revelations which the prophets received only in fragments.

The imagery of the Apocalypse is either entirely new or supplementary of the revelations partially made to the prophets. The Old Testament prophecies are thus interpreted and made clear. The Apocalypse is the finish, completion and summing up of all revelation. It was not neecessary that the imagery be drawn from the apocrypha or still less from pagan mythology. All that could be drawn from the apocrypha is contained in the inspired books, because the apocrypha are largely plagiarisms. They take the imagery of the prophetical books and embellish them with apt imaginings, but they reveal nothing new and clarify nothing. To suppose that St. John borrowed visions from spurious sources or even from pagan poetry or mythology would be supposing that his words were not true, for he represents all the visions as true and real. They could therefore have no affinity to the fancies of pagan poets. The revelations in the Apocalypse are likewise totally different from those received by the other Christian prophets of St. Paul's time. Theirs were only glimpses, flashes of divine light, and their purpose was edification or consolation for the time and place in which they were received without any obligation to record them. What visions they had cannot be known, because they were not recorded. The revelations of the Apocalypse were intended for all times.

St. John draws his imagery from all parts of creation and from all conditions of human life. The heavens lend a touch of sublimity to many truths revealed. The sun enwraps the Woman, the moon serves as her pedestal and stars encircle her head for a crown. At other times the sun is dimmed with mystery, the moon turns to the color of blood and stars fall from heaven. A meteor sweeps across the sky; lightnings and thunders terrify the peoples; winds and hail flay the earth. And the sea appears now and then with its fish, ships and mariners. Mountains and islands move away or sink into the sea, and into it is tumbled a volcano. Also a crystal sea appears. Earthquakes rock the earth; caves and dens furnish hiding places for the wicked; deserts, fertile fields, trees, orchards and vineyards, rivers and fountains adorn the descriptions.

All phases of human life appear. Agriculture furnishes its symbols of trees, vines, herbs and grass; the harvest and vintage pass review. Commerce with its freighter ships illustrates prosperity; business methods are hinted at; the opulence of the rich and the squalor of the poor come into view. Occasions of joy, the wedding feast, and occasions of mourning and weeping at the plagues of the destroying angels; The sensual pleasures of the lustful, and the spiritual joys of the virgins: All these are seen in turn. Priests appear in priestly robes and penitents in sackcloth. The patience of the saints, the benedictions pronounced upon them, the praises and adoration they offer the Deity exalt the mind of the reader; whilst the wailings and despair and blasphemous ravings of the inpenitent worshippers of the Beast and his sinful proposals instill a wholesome fear and dread. The ravages of raiding warriors or barbarian hordes and vast armies, despotic kings and world-controlling powers are depicted shedding the blood of defenseless victims. All classes of men: the kings of the earth, merchants, sailors, soldiers, musicians, craftsmen, slaves and free citizens cross the stage.

The powers of darkness are depicted battling the spirits of light; and the kings of the earth submitting to the direction of the dragon, the king of darkness, are drawn up in battle array against the King of kings and His armies of light. The happiness of the virtuous on earth in the midst of all turmoil encouraged by promises of everlasting bliss is contrasted with the sordid satisfaction of the servers of sin who are confronted with nothing but prospects of endless torments in the pool of fire.

The animal kingdom likewise furnishes many symbols. The living creatures, the wild beast and other beasts, a lion, a lamb, a calf, a leopard, a bear, an eagle, horses, locusts, scorpions, frogs, vultures and birds of the air appear and vivify the scenery. The elements, fire and water, personifications of death and sin, the underworld and the pool of fire and a bottomless abyss form settings for parts of the world-wide drama.

A very large part of the imagery is identical with that of the Old Testament, in employing which, St. John gives a new or fuller interpretation to its symbolism. Other symbols are taken from the Old Testament to represent new developments in the history of the Church. Symbolic names of Old Testament personages appear in the Apocalypse, such as the lion of the Tribe of Juda or the root of David. The tree of life, the water of life and the book of life are given a clearer meaning and add a halo of sublimity to the narrative. Famous places, such as Babylon, Sodom, Egypt come before us, and a New Jerusalem takes the place of the old. Many symbolic numbers are employed: 2, 3, 3½, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 24, 42, 144, 666, 1,000 1260, 1600, 7,000 and 200,000,000. Of all of these numbers SEVEN is the most frequent. It is the sacred number of completion. The mystic number, the number of the Blessed Trinity, is combined with many numbers to compose the others. FOUR is the number of universality, and this multiplied by three gives the perfect number, 12, God's number. The world's number of perfection is TEN.

The last Judgment with the Great White Throne is the final scene toward which the whole action of the Great Drama converges. Glimpses of this judgment are flashed on the canvass as a background for intermediate judgments and to keep the final summing-up of all events before the mind of the reader.

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE APOCALYPSE

Our interpretation treats the Apocalypse as an inspired book, because the Infallible Church has spoken, has placed this book on the canon and proclaimed its inspiration. This is no longer an open question. As an inspired book the Apocalypse could not contain errors in matters of faith or morals. The INTERPRETATION of the Apocalypse is, however, an open question, and the odium theologicum could not attach to one which contains no teaching in conflict with the dogmas or moral doctrines of the Church.

Verbal dictation by the Holy Spirit is not held throughout, for in the ordinary narrative and in the descriptions of the visions, St. John chooses his own words. Verbal dictation is held where Christ or His representatives are directly quoted. The letters to the seven churches are a verbal dictation from Christ, and the choice of those churches are Christ's.

Divine inspiration would also preclude all possibility of images from pagan mythology, idolatry or astrology, because those things are unrealities, superstitions and abominations and could not condignly become vehicles of thought or expressions of divine revelation. Such use would seem repugnant to the Spirit of Truth and to human reason. However, the mentioning of superstitious practices and errors in doctrine, in order to refute and condemn them would not seem repugnant to the dignity of an inspired book. But it does not seem reasonable that the Seer would have drawn illustrations from aprocryphal sources. Divine inspiration deals with realities, past, present and future.

In accommodating Himself to a human mind for the purpose of making new revelations or of completing or re-stating old ones, the Holy Spirit evidently leaves His instrument intact with all his natural and supernatural equipment of mind and will; He leaves grace, intellect, will, memory, imagination, temperament, education and experience true to the owner. And it may be held He raises all these endowments and acquisitions to a higher plane for keener and more perfect use. He then rouses in the mind of the inspired one thoughts and images and brings before his senses visions which he will be most apt to understand clearly in all their relationships to the revelations to be made, so that he may easily and most naturally record every part and particle of the revelations truthfully. He may draw his words, images, symbols, figures of diction, allusions and amplifications from every source of human knowledge with which he is familiar; he may draw from the revelations formerly made through any and all inspired writers, from the revelations made by Jesus Christ Himself, from the organization of the Church, from her liturgy, laws, worship, doctrines; he may depict the revelations on a background of political, social, economical, moral or spiritual conditions in the world; he may use current literary expressions to attach new and higher meanings to them; he may allude to figures of speech in common use in particular communities to which he addresses his message; he may take cognizance of the moral and spiritual as well as social and political status of his readers: All this would not detract from the dignity of an inspired message. But to admit mythology or idolatry or any other abomination into the composition of an inspired book would seem like blasphemy to the Spirit of Truth and Holiness.

Accepting the above premise, we reject as unworthy of consideration many accretions to the text as contained in the commentaries on the Apocalypse after so many centuries of study. As is evident from the Gospel, St. John must have learned the Greek language very well. His diction, however, is not the classical but the conversational Greek. In this simple parlance, there would be many classical expressions from mythology having a practical meaning as in all our modern languages. But he would not by using the words and idioms allude to all the mythologies from which the words were derived. When therefore the philologists trace up the origin of these terms and read into the text the mythologies and astrologies for which they were coined, they add unto the prophecy.

In our interpretation, all definitions have been drawn from the Old and New Testaments. Many scenes and visions have been cleared up by the study of history, because a large part of the prophecies seem already past history. Studies on the constitution of the Church and on apostolic Tradition, as well as studies into the spiritual, moral, social, political, educational, economic and cultural conditions of the times have shed a great deal of light on the obscure symbolism of the Apocalypse. Using all this as a working basis, our interpretation has been worked out logically from beginning to end. It was written and rewritten before commentaries of many sorts were searched for further light.

In the knowledge of St. John, the Church surely possessed of divine truth all she possesses today though in a less developed form. Hence for an interpretation, no one is restricted to the words of the text alone but may take the Apocalypse as a poetic description of many truths written down later in the traditional writings of the great Fathers and Doctors. If therefore an interpretation, which holds the doctrines of the Church of today to have been clearly outlined in the mind of the Sacred Writer and which understands these doctrines as portrayed in the historico-prophetical visions of the Apocalypse to be the same as those contained in the crystallized expressions of theology, will work out logically from beginning to end, such an intepretation should be justifiable. And surely St. John had a clear knowledge of the doctrines which in later ages were crystallized by the church, and he might express them in symbolic language such as makes up the Apocalypse. But he may not have understood the manner nor seen the perspective of time in all details in which the events revealed to him would go into fulfillment.

The Apocalypse can have no multiple literal sense any more than any other part of the Scriptures. But to discover the exact literal sense with certainty in the Apocalypse is more difficult than in any other book of Holy Writ. Our interpretation is written in a hypothetical strain throughout, because being a prophetical book and as mysterious as it is, the Apocalypse could not be affirmed to have absolutely such and such a meaning anywhere, even in the part that is commonly considered to be past history and that is held as such here. Prophecies can never be interpreted in advance with positive certainty, unless God gives the revelation of their exact meaning. Therefore it cannot be stated with certainty how much of the Apocalypse is fulfilled in our day. And the application of the visions to past historical events must always be made with reservations, no matter how true they may seem. All the more can the unfulfilled part of the Apocalypse be only a probability however convincing the text is. But it did not seem necessary to use the phrases, probably this is the meaning, possibly this will happen, or maybe this and maybe that on every page or in every paragraph. It has intentionally been worked out to appear as probable or plausible as possible.

THE BEAST

The Apocalypse is a vivid portrayal of St. John's knowledge of the struggle between the Church and the anti-Christian world-power in Asia. The Empire was the representative of that world-power that had continually existed for many ages and had led the nations and peoples of the earth into idolatry and emperor-worship by the military forces of an organized government and now silently and openly counteracted the influence of the Church. It is not so remarkable that St. John uses the word Beast and not the word Antichrist, because he writes a prophetical book, and by using the same term used by Daniel, he puts this book in the same category. St. John, as Daniel did, presents the world-power under a figure that would arouse the reader's resentment and would heighten his trust in God to defend His Church against its malevolent might. Had he used the word Antichrist, he would have restricted the prophecies to the man of sin, who according to both St. John and St. Paul was a person destined to gather all the evil forces in the world and unite and co-ordinate them under his dominion for the last desperate attack on the Church of Jesus Christ. By using the word Beast, he could unite his empire of evil and his person of evil in one single term and include under it the anti-Christian world-power of his own time and unify their efforts against Christ and God by the mind and power of Satan. He thus aptly portrays the evil world-power of all times in the form of a bloodthirsty beast.

St. John presents Antichrist in a two-fold role, personal and political. He depicts the first in chapter XIII. and the second in chapter XVII. His idea of Antichrist is exactly that of St. Paul, that he is not on impersonal power but a man. Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many antichrists (1 Jo. II. 18, 22; IV. 3). St. Paul had expressed the same view: unless there come a revolt first and the man of sin be revealed . . . etc. (2 Thess. II.), leaving no doubt of its being a man. St. John gives another view of Antichrist, that he not only cometh but is already in the world and his presence is in the form of a power or organization, and it manifested itself in the doctrines of the Docetae (1 Jo. IV. 3, 33; 2 Jo. 7). Irenaeus and Hippolytus apply the name to a person only not to an organization. The former identifies the beast with Antichrist. (Adv. Haer. V. xxvi, 1).

According to St. John's view so clearly revealed in the Apocalypse, before Antichrist appears, the beast is non-existent for a time. The beast that was and is not and yet shall be (XVII. 8) is the anti-Christian world-power. This sentence has mystified many interpreters. St. Jerome left the last clause out of his translation, probably because he considered it a contradiction. However, the beast in chapter XVII. is the empire of Antichrist though not entirely differentiated from his person. This anti-Christian empire existed in former times for a long course of ages but then ceased to exist for a time.

The Apocalypse demonstrates very clearly that the victory of the Lamb over all the forces of evil including the author of evil will be achieved by human agents. The more unwavering the loyalty and the truer the spirit of sacrifice with which the human actors play their roles, the more decisive and far-reaching will the victory be. If all the hierarchy labored with the zeal and perseverance of St. Francis Xavier and in them were found none of the vices of the pharisees, the heresies and schisms which will finally usher in the reign of Antichrist would not be established, nor would the apostasy before Antichrist come about, nor evil grow to the enormities it shall attain during his reign. After having redeemed mankind and endowed His Church with all power needed to convert the world, Christ left it free to mold its own destiny. Man's perverse will has produced all the evil that has grown side by side with good in the same field. God left men's will free. The Apocalypse might be called the Book of Destiny, because it clearly outlines the evolution of the world's destiny to the end and shows the forces acting to create it.

The Apocalypse seems to point obscurely and guardedly to Domitian as the present embodiment of the beast. St. Paul does not in his epistles take this view of either the empire or the emperor. Although in the epistles of St. John, the Docetae are antichrists, in the Apocalypse, the reigning emperor is the persecutor of the Church (Apoc. VI. 2). Still, the Seer does not identify him with Antichrist, although he desired to be called Lord and God. This blasphemy made Domitian in his own time the representative or type of Antichrist but not Antichrist himself, because the numbers 666 or 616 do not fit his name. Emperor-worship was in St. John's estimation the greatest sin, for it made the city that practiced it the seat of Satan (Apoc. II. 13) and will make Antichrist the man of sin (2 Thess. II. 3-4). The term Beast was for St. John therefore the most felicitous and most expressive term for all purposes he had in mind.

Another evil force were the Jews in attacking and persecuting the Church. St. John calls them the synagogue of Satan. They are thus classed with the emperor-worshippers for denying Christ His rightful honor. Connected with emperor-worship was the worship of Askulepius in Thiatira, of Artemis in Ephesus and of Dionysus and Zeus in Pergamum. Then there were the heresies of the Nicolaites (II.6), of the partakers of sacrificial meats in the pagan temples (II.14) and of compromisers with magicians and soothsayers (II. 20 ff.). All of these abominations indicated that the empire of the coming Antichrist was under construction. St. Paul had stated that the mystery of iniquity already worketh (2 Thess. II. 7), and St. John stated the same, he is now already in the world (1 Jo. IV. 3). In the Apocalypse, the Seer outlines the preparation of his empire in the first nine chapters and thereafter its growth to maturity under the personal direction of Antichrist and then its destruction. Emperor-worship, idolatry, magic, Judaism, heresy, schism, agnosticism, infidelity, liberalism, atheism, compromise with error or unbelief, persecution of the Church, hypocrisy and other vices are the roots out of which the enormities of Antichrist's reign will grow until they will overshadow the world.

THE DEFEATS OF SATAN

The Apocalypse might be crowned by the caption of The Book of Victories, for it depicts the victories of Jesus Christ, which culminate in His grand final triumph over Satan and all enemies. It would be more accurate to say that it depicts the last phase of the final victory over the archenemy. Throughout the sacred writings, he stands exposed as a constant loser in his war on God. Every new seeming victory brought him a more humiliating and crushing defeat. Had he stopped warring on God after his dethronement in the first instance, his degradation would have been at the hands of the Almighty. Not satisfied with that first verdict, he allured man to his side against God. That earned him a stinging humiliation in the elevation of human nature to union with God in one divine person for the purpose of redemption. Human nature united to that divine Person overpowered him then and began to destroy his kingdom in the world. He then contrived to have that Person put to death. This forever frustrated his initial design of keeping man from obtaining the glory which he and his angels had lost. And it brought a more humiliating defeat upon him than any former one in that the Church renews the death of Christ in a mystical way and through that mystical sacrifice shall ultimately root up his empire altogether. Thus in trying to destroy Christ and His work, he brought the greatest defeat and humiliation of all upon himself and lost everything he had apparently gained in Paradise. With man redeemed and heaven re-opened, Satan's kingdom in the world has been dismembered ever more and more, not so much by an almighty act of God or by an almighty word of the God-man, as by the words of mere man pronounced at the Consecration of the Mass. Man is here empowered to overthrow the kingdom of Satan and drive him out of the world. Christ is now triumphant over Satan in the humble and lifeless appearance of the eucharistic species. This is the last phase of the final and hopeless defeat and utmost humiliation of the archenemy of God and man. St. John describes in epic splendors this last act of the grand drama of Redemption with its series of victories for Jesus Christ and mankind and its consequent defeats for Satan.

Christ entrusted the power to renew His bloody death on the Cross in an unbloody mystic manner to the priests of His Church elevating man thereby to God-likeness and defeating forever the designs of Satan with the utmost humiliation to himself. So much has man been exalted and Satan's pride humiliated, that he who was far lower than the angels in natural gifts now rises in the power of grace to defeat his enemy and stand forth triumphant. The judgments executed by the eucharistic Lamb upon Satan shall involve the whole world not to destroy but to chasten it and wrest it from the hands of Satan liberating the human race from his sordid servitude.

The firm belief of the faithful of the Church in this sacred mystery, in the Reality of the Great Presence, in the truth and effectiveness of Christ's words at the Last Supper, just as the Church has explained and believed it through all ages, undoes the unbelief of the head of the human race in Paradise. This is the victory that overcomes the world and the empire of Satan with all its earthly and unearthly forces, THIS FIRM FAITH. In and through the Eucharistic Mystery, the power with which Christ endowed His priesthood, distinguishing it thereby from all other priesthoods of history, and the unshakable belief in the words of Christ by the faithful of the Church, Paradise will be regained, and the honor refused God by Adam through the intrigue and deception of Satan will be restored to Him. The Apocalypse reveals the fruits of the victory gained by the Mystic Presence in the restoration of more than paradisiac conditions on earth. Satan is thus exposed in the complete and finished defeats brought upon by himself by his own pride in presuming to measure his strength and excellence with that of his Creator.

SYNOPSIS

BOOK I

In the first three chapters of the Apocalypse, we have the principles out of which good and evil will evolve. The churches are warned against the existing evils in them, the harbingers of disaster, and are commended for their good qualities through which Christ shall renew the world. In chapters IV. and V., the constitution and organization of the Church are outlined and the Lamb is introduced. He will direct all future history, will foster the growth of all good and establish His everlasting kingdom through a decisive victory. In chapter VI., the judgment begins upon those who oppose Christ and adhere to false doctrines and principles. God's judgments will emanate out of the evils present in the world and will again check those evils and give all that is good a fair chance to grow. In chapter VII., there is a pause in the action of the world-drama to review the fruits of the Lamb's activities and of His victories so far won. The first scene in chapter VIII. presents an institution in the Church and in the world that will hurry the human race onwards to the destinies foreseen in prophetic light and prepare it for both the culmination of the mystery of iniquity and the revelation of the mystery of God. Chapter nine reveals the last stages of this preparation, when evil will go unchecked and will welcome the advent of Antichrist.

BOOK II

An open booklet is presented to the Seer by an angel. It contains the judgments from this point to the end, and it begins with the judgment of the Church indicating the complete separation of the good from the wicked. This is immediately followed by the reign of Antichrist. Chapter X. is an interlude to introduce the action that follows upon IX. 21-22. Chapter XI. describes the work of the Two Witnesses, who labor to restore all things in Christ, combat the power