Chapter 10. On the Mystical Gate of the City of God.

LET us now in order consider the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. According to the general exposition of interpreters, the

twelve Apostles are to be understood by the gates : in this explanation they follow St. Augustine in his exposition of the 86th Psalm. But when St. John in the Apoca lypse speaks of the "gates/' he mentions twelve angels and the twelve tribes of thei children of Israel, whose names are written on the twelve gates of the city of God : but in that verse he makes no mention of the apostles. But the opinion of St. Augustine and of those who follow him is not therefore erroneous", for St. John speaks mysti cally, not literally — as a prophet, not as an historian. The whole description is full of mystical significations.* The land of promise, according to all interpreters, was a figure of the heavenly Jerusalem. Abra ham was the first to whom the promise was made : " All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever." (Genesis xiii. 15.) And St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians : ' To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed;" and a little lower he adds : "But God gave it to Abraham by promise." Isaac alone was the heir of Abraham, Ismael being excluded, who was the son of the free woman. Thus the Scripture, "For the

• It. was a saying of St. Jerome, "that the Apocalypse contained as many mysteries as it had words." It would have been well, had Newton, Faber, Bickersteth, Keith, &c., remembered these words, when they were publishing their opinions on various chapters of the Apocalypse. If St. Jerome could not understand tins mysterious book, much, less could the above mentioned writers

son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." Jacob alone was the heir of Isaac, Esau, his brother, being ex cluded, who sold his birthright. Hence the prophet Malachias says, " I have loved Jacob, but have hated Esau ;" and these words the apostle repeats in his Epistle to the Romans. The heirs of Jacob were all his sons, twelve in number, not one of whom was excluded; and thus the land of pro mise was divided amongst the twelve tribes of Israel, as we learn from the Book of Josue. This is, therefore, the reason why •St. John said in the Apocalypse, that on the twelve gates were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel; because the entrance into the promised land was a right of inheritance, which belonged to all the children of Israel alone. But, as we mentioned above,, St. John speaks figu ratively, so that by the twelve tribes of Israel are meant the true Israelites, not according to the flesh, but according to faith and the spirit ; and therefore the twelve Apostles are included, as well as their spiritual children. For, as St. Paul clearly teaches us in his Epistle to the Romans: "All are not Israelites that are of Israel, neither are all they that are of the seed of Abraham, children/' (chap. ix. 6.) The same Apostle compares Israel to a tree, whose many branches are broken on account of unbelief, and others ingrafted by reason of faith. Thus, when the Gen-

tiles were converted, they began to be children of Israel, and many of the Jews ceased to be time Israelites. St. Augustine thus proves this point at length :* " Is not this a wonderful and deep mystery, that many, not born of Israel, should belong to Israel, and many not children, though they were of the seed of Abraham? How are they not ? How are they sons ? It is, that they are not sons of promise*, belonging to the grace of Christ, but sons of the flesh, bearing an empty name ; and thus, neither are they of Israel as we are, nor are we of Israel like they are : for we are according to a spiritual regeneration, they according to a carnal one In the grand-children of Abraham, the sons of Isaac — viz., Jacob and Esau — this great and profound mystery appears, of which the Apostle speaks when he had mentioned the sons promised to Abraham as belonging to the grace of Christ. This the apostolic and catholic doctrine clearly teaches, that the Jews belong to Sara, according to the flesh, but the Isrnaelites to Agar ; and, according to the spirit, Christians belong to Sara, Jews to Agar ; to Esau likewise, according to the flesh, who is also called Edom, the nation of the Idumeans ; to Jacob, who is also called Israel, the nation of the Jews ; but, according to the mystery of the Spirit, the Jews to Esau belong, to Israel the

Christians." Thus St. Augustine clearly proves, that Christians are true Israelites, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit ; and that thereby they are heirs of the land of promise, which is in heaven. Wherefore, the gates of the heavenly Jeru salem have inscribed on them the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, because the gate by which we enter the land of promise is the inheritance of the Sons of God, who alone are true and sincere ChristianS, the children of the blessed Apostles. These are signified by the true Israelites, that is, the sons of the patriarch Jacob ; and when St. John adds, that on the gates were twelve angels, he means that angels are the guardians of those gates, whose office is to prevent any one entering, that has not the right of inheritance. For this reason, perhaps, St. Michael, the archangel, is repre sented with scales in his hands, because by the angels under him he examines the merits of those who aspire to this heavenly city.