number of galleys cover the sea! Let the nm columns of infantry and cavalry cover the n plains, and the summits of the mountains!
s Let the brasen arms glitter in the sun! let “ the coruscation of the helmets and of the shields be reflected in its beams! let the clash of spears and the tramp of horses rise n a n to the very heaven! and let neither sea, nor n land be seen, but only brass and steel in ns every direction! Then let fierce, and savage, a and barbarous enemies be set in array against n them, and the moment of engagement be at a hand! After this let some one, laying sudden hold on a child, nursed in the fields, who knows nothing beyond his pipe and crook, a n n -arm him with brasen armour, and lead him ‘through the whole camp, shewing him the ‘companies, the archers, slingers, centurions, “ generals, heavy-armed troops, horsemen, spear- ‘men, galleys, captains, the armed marines, and ¢ the engines, prepared in the ships! Let him ‘shew him too all the array of the enemies, ‘their terrific looks, the peculiar form of ‘their arms, and their infinite multitude! ‘ Let him point out to him the dells, and the ‘ precipices, and the defiles! and let him ‘ further shew him on the side of the enemy ‘horses, that fly by magic, and soldiers, borne ‘through the air! Let him explain to him the ‘ power and the form of every charm, recount ‘the calamities of war, the cloud of javelins, ‘the snow-storm of arrows, the deep mist, the ‘impossibility of seeing, and the black night, ‘ produced by the cloud of arrows, excluding ‘ by their closeness the beams of the sun, the ‘blinding dust, doubling the effect of the ‘ darkness, the torrents of blood, the shrieks of ‘the fallen, the shouts of the conquerors, the ‘heaps of men overthrown, the wheels, bathed ‘in blood, the horses, thrown down with their ‘riders by the number of dead bodies in their ‘ way, the earth, exhibiting all these scenes in eee € ¢ € ¢ n a “ n a n a x a“ ~ promiscuous confusion, blood, and bows, and arrows, the armour of horses, and heads of men, lying together, and arms, and necks, and legs, and breasts transfixed, brains dashed about with spears, and the point, broken off from the point of an arrow, yet having an eye attached to it! and let him enumerate the disasters, befalling the fleet, some galleys burnt in the deep, some sinking with the crew, the roar of the waters, the confusion of the mariners, the shout of the soldiers, the mingled foam of billows and blood, rushing at once upon all the vessels, the dead upon the benches, the drowned, the swimming, the shipwrecked, some of them washed about in the waves, and choking the passage for the ships! and, after he has thus minutely instructed him in all the tragedies of war, let him add next those horrors of captivity and slavery, which are worse than every death! and when he has explained the whole, let him bid him mount horse directly, and take the command of all this army! Do you think, that the child will have strength to hear all this enumeration, and not faint instantly at the very first sight?
a a “ n ‘ Do not imagine however, that in my account of this I have been guilty of exaggeration, or have made an hyperbolical statement! For, pent up, as we are, in this body, like prisoners in a dungeon, we cannot discern the invisible powers. Could you however with these eyes behold the black array of the devil, and his mad conflict, you would witness a battle, much greater and more arduous than that, which I have described to you, a battle, in which there is no brass or steel, no horses and wheeled chariots, no fire and arrows, no visible objects, like any of these, but other instruments, much more formidable.
‘These enemies have no need of breastplates, or shields, or swords, or darts. The sight of this accursed host is alone sufficient to para- lyse a soul, which is not endued with superior courage, and withal furnished by God with still greater foresight than valour. Were it possible by laying aside this body, or even with this body ocularly to survey all his array and war without fear or giddiness, you would see not torrents of blood, or dead bodies, but so many fallen souls. You would perceive é ‘ wounds so grievous, that you would deem the ¢ ‘scene of war, which I just now detailed to ‘you, mere child’s play and idle pastime, not ‘actual warfare. So many are there struck ‘down by him every day. And the mortifica- ‘tion, which these wounds occasion, is not ‘like that, produced by the others, but as ‘ different from it as the soul is different from ‘the body; for, when the soul is wounded, ‘and falls, it does not le down, like the body, ‘ without sensation, but is tortured afterwards, ¢ -and pines under an evil conscience, and after é its separation at the hour of judgment is.
¢ delivered over to everlasting vengeance...Pavara? ‘ Again, if there be any one, who does not Tepe dy ‘ perceive the wounds of the devil, his case ‘is rendered so much the more grievous by ‘his insensibility: for whoever feels no pain ‘ from a first wound, will offer no resistance to ‘a second, or even a third; and then the ‘wicked one, finding the soul supine, and ‘negligent of former attacks, will not desist ‘from renewing them even to the last gasp. ‘ Then, if you would inquire into the nature of ‘ this combat, you would find it to be much ‘ more ferocious in its character, and diversified ‘in its modes of attack. So many are the ‘shapes of theft and fraud, with which that ‘wicked one is acquainted; for these are ‘ the means, by which he acquires his greatest ‘power, neither can any one harbour so ‘ implacable an enmity against his worst foes, ‘as that evil demon entertains against all man- ‘kind. If indeed the zeal and earnestness, ‘with which he contends, were duly appre- ‘ ciated, it would appear preposterous to com- ‘pare him here with men. Were the fiercest ‘and wildest beasts selected for the purpose, ‘yet, when compared with his fury, they ‘would be judged quite mild and gentle. ‘Such wrath does he breathe out against ‘ our souls. ‘ Amongst us also the time of battle is soon ‘ over, and within a short period there are many ‘ cessations. The approach of night, weariness ‘of slaughter, the hour of food, and many ‘other circumstances naturally make the sol- ‘dier desist, that he may put off his armour, “and recruit and refresh himself with food and ‘ drink, and recover his strength by many other a n a n a .
a n a n a .
means. But as to the assaults of the wicked one, he, who would. escape from them with- out a wound, can never lay aside his arms. He must never take rest: for either he will fall and perish by losing his armour, or he must always stand and watch in it. One of these two is unavoidable: for the enemy stands at all times at the head of his marshalled foree, watching our indolenee, and employing greater diligence for our de- struction, than we use for our salvation: and, being invisible, and attacking us sud- denly, which occasions innumerable evils, he thus renders the war, in which we must engage with him, much more harassing, than that with men, who are not constantly on the alert.
‘Did you then (I may now ask you) wish me to lead the army of Christ? It would be to take a command forthe devil: for, when he, who ought to marshal and array the rest, is the most inexperienced and helpless of all, and must betray those, who were committed to him, through his inexperience, he com- mands for the devil rather than for Christ.
¢ if 6 4 na a“ as a “ nw a n a 6 But why do you groan? Why do you weep? For my present situation is one, which demands not your tears, but rather delight and joy.’
‘ But not mine —said he. ‘ [t calls for un- bounded lamentation: for I now at length begin to discern, into what evils you have brought me. I came to you, to learn, what apology I could make for you to those, who are finding fault with you. But you send me away with one distress instead of another: for now I cease to concern myself about the answer I am to make to them on your behalf, and am only distressed about that, which I must render to God on my own, and for my own crimes: and now | beg and beseech you, if you have any regard for me, if there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any bowels and mercies, (for you know, that it is chiefly by your means, that I am brought into this danger), stretch out your hand to me, and hold me up by your salutary advice and assistance! Do not allow yourself to be absent from me fora moment! But let ‘us now spend our time together more strictly ‘ than ever!’
To this I replied, smiling—‘ And what assis- ‘tance can I render? What can I do in an ‘affair of this difficulty? Yet, since it is ‘your wish, my friend, be at ease! For, ‘whenever you shall have leisure from your ‘ professional labours, I will both seek your ‘company, and comfort you, and will omit ‘ nothing, that is in my power.’
At these words he arose with more tears; and J, having embraced and kissed him, brought him on his way, exhorting him to submit with cheerfulness to what had _ hap- pened—‘ For I trust’-—said I, ‘in Christ, who ‘has called you, and appointed you over his ‘sheep, that you will acquire such influence ‘by this ministry as to carry me also with ‘you at that day out of my present peril- ‘ous condition into your own everlasting ‘ habitation.’
THE END.
NOTES.
That happy state, the life of monks.—(p. 2.)
How early the disposition to invent a better way than that, taught in the bible, entered into the church of Christ! Monasticism, a state, unknown to the apostles, was soon re- garded, as the true philosophy; and a life of contemplation and indolent devotion was thought to advance the soul to a higher degree of perfection than is attainable in the discharge of those ordinary duties, which belong to common christians.
In the early ages indeed, when heathenism reigned predo- minant, and even afterwards, when it had not yet been super- seded by christianity, such institutions might be a most valuable refuge for young students, or converts, from surround- ing contamination: and we need not wonder, that they were so highly commended, when their advantages were palpable, and the abominations, which in course of time crept into them, had not yet become matters of experience.
Still Chrysostom says enough to shew, that their beneficial tendency, even as they were then conducted, was on the whole questionable. They indeed were not, like some monasteries in a later age, schools for laziness and luxury. The inmates provided every thing for themselves, and were thus trained in habits of industry: nor were they fettered by vows, and pre- vented from returning into society. Yet it was found, that their entire seclusion from the world, if continued for any length of time, was no suitable preparation for the ministry; and the same mistake was made in this method of training young christians for the active duties of life, which was ex- perienced by the ancient Greeks, when they attempted to improve the military virtues of the people by the institution of the public games. The special discipline, which was required for a racer or combatant in those gymnastic exer- cises, was not favorable to the acquisition of the habits, which were required in the regular soldier, when called into actual service: and so Chrysostom himself remarks concern- ing monastic institutions, that ‘there is no less favorable pre- ‘ paration for the government of a church than that exemption ‘from business and care; for any one, who has been long ‘ habituated to such retirement, and has passed his life in tran- « quillity, is hindered by his own inactivity, and the very want ‘ of practice cripples his ability in no slight degree: whence it ‘ arises, that few become conspicuous, who are brought out of ‘ that school to this scene of labour; nor is this surprising, ‘for,’ (says he) ‘ when the actual contest and the preparatory ‘ institution are not regulated with the same view, the practised ‘combatant has no advantage over the uninstructed.’— Some persons even in the assembly helped to deceive him.—(p. 10) What a departure does this whole scene exhibit from the simplicity of the gospel! Chrysostom deceives his friend; others concur in deceiving him by a direct and wilful falshood; Basil is thus inveigled into the assembly on a different pretext from the real design, entertained in regard to him; and the holy office of the priesthood instead of being deliberately conferred, and meekly accepted, is made a matter of artifice and delusion, bemg regarded with superstitious terror, and declined, as a burden, by those, who ought, when rightly called to it, to take the oversight of Christ’s flock not by constraint, but willingly.
Cease to upbraid me with deceiving you, and shew, that I have done it with a malicious de- The practice of pious frauds is of very early origin in the church. But here it is stoutly defended; and even scripture is quoted in support of it. Some of the arguments however, derived from other sources, are only rhetorical flourishes. The use of stratagem in war, when all the relations, which bind man to man, are broken up, or the artifices, employed by physicians, to save the life of an obstinate and impracticable patient, may be right, or wrong, but can hardly be alleged seriously, to justify christians in acting deceitfully to one another: and as to the scriptural examples, we are not con- cerned to vindicate Jacob in his fraud upon Isaac, for which it is untruly alleged, that God has commended him; and, if Michal’s deceit may be palliated by the danger of her husband, no such excuse can be pleaded for Chrysostom in the studied imposition, which he practised upon his friend.
It was with this view, that he, who wrote to the Galatians—‘ If ye be circumcised, Christ ‘ shall profit you nothing, yet submitted to cir- cumcise Timothy.—(p. 25.)
The parallel here fails in the most essential particulars: for St. Paul did a lawful act for a lawful purpose, whereas Chrysostom committed an unlawful act, namely a falsehood, for an unlawful purpose, namely to deceive. It was not unlawful for a son of a Jewess to be circumcised; nor were the Jews deceived by it, though their prejudices were con- ciliated. But, when Titus, a Gentile, was converted, saint Paul’s language is very different. Conciliation then has no place.
Let those be brought forward, who are vastly superior to the rest of mankind!—(p. 31.)
However fit it may be to magnify the ministerial office, it is unreasonable and mischievous to require superhuman qualifications from ministers, as if they must needs be as superior to the rest of mankind, as their employment sur- passes in dignity every other human employment. Saint Paul takes another course, when he asks—‘ Who then is Paul, ‘and who is Apollos, but ministers, by whom ye believed, ‘even as the Lord gave to every man?’ In fact all the essential qualities, if I may so describe them, which are necessary in the ministers of the gospel, are required in every true Christian, though not in the same degree. The love of Christ and of his gospel, the hatred of sin, and desire to be delivered from it, the faith and purity, which are needful for the work of the ministry, are also needful for the salvation of a sinner. But a minister should not be a novice. He should be able to speak to others from the results of his own expe- rience, yet still, as a sinner, speaking to sinners, as a partaker of grace, to those, who are either partakers, or invited to become partakers of the same grace: and to draw a picture of qualifications for the ministry, which are not warranted by scripture, or justified by experience, can answer no other purpose, but to deter faithful men from entering the ministry, and elate ungodly ministers with a false notion of their impor- tance. How different is this from the sober statement of ministerial qualifications, made by the apostle! ‘If a man ‘ desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A ‘bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, ‘vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt ‘to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy ‘lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one, that ‘ ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection ‘with all gravity, not a novice, lest, being lifted up with ‘pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil.’
Of all men Christians are the least defensible, if they attempt to correct the errors of the wicked by force.—(p. 35.)
The argument against the use of force in religion is admira- ble, though here only brought in incidentally.
Only conceiving it possible, that human nature should look with contempt upon that dignity.— Yet the office is despised by many persons, and most by those, who intrude into it without a call.
You see the Lord, sacrificed, and laid upon the altar, and the priest, standing, and praying over the sacrifice, and all the people empurpled with his most precious blood.—(p. 60.)
This image of the Lord, sacrificed upon the altar, and the people empurpled with his blood, is a highly figurative description of a body of communicants, impressed through faith with a deep sense of the value of his atonement. But, like other figures, which are occasionally introduced, to adormy and elevate this christian festival, it favors the notion of a sacrificing priest, which came at a later age to be distinctly taught, though it is foreign to the whole design of the gospel. At the same time the question—‘Are you not transported ‘into the heavens? ’—shews, that in Chrysostom’s view this was an act of faith, not of carnal transubstantiation.
What indeed has he really given them, but the whole authority of Heaven?—p. 63.
This is another oratorical description, calculated to mislead by representing earthly mmisters, as wielding absolutely the authority of heaven, and responsible to none, but God.
If he, who does not eat the flesh of the Lord, and drink his blood, is rejected from eternal life, and if all these blessings are dispensed only by the holy hands of the priest.—(p. 64.)
The words of our Saviour, relating to a spiritual participa- tion in his body and blood, are here restrained to the sacra- mental act, of which the priest is the dispenser.
These are they, who superintend our spiritual birth, and are entrusted with the regeneration of baptism.—(p. 64.)
The comparison of priests to fathers, not because they have been instrumental in turning the heart to God, but because they administer the external rite of baptism, is fundamentally erroneous. Saint Paul says—‘ Christ sent me, ‘not to baptize, but ta preach the gospel,’—: and by this instrument, by the foolishness of preaching ‘I,’—says he to 4s converts—‘ have begotten you all through the gospel,’—; in which words he claims to be exclusively the father of all the Corinthian disciples, although he had baptized none of them, but Crispus and Gaius. At the same time it should be observed, that Chrysostom does not here confine the grace of forgiveness to the act of baptism, but extends it to other parts of pastoral duty.
We may justly fear them more than kings.— This claim of more than kingly honour ascribes a personal distinction to the priest, very different from the simple direc- tion of the apostle. ‘Obey them, that have the rule over ‘you, and submit yourselves (for they watch for your souls, ‘as they, that must give account), that they may do it with ‘ joy, and not with grief!’
He ought to purify his soul from all ambitious fondness for the task he has undertaken.—p. 75.
Here we come to a very important truth: for the respect, properly paid to the ministerial office, is a snare to him, who holds it, and a temptation to others to aspire to it without those necessary qualifications, the very first of which is humility.
You may see the council of elders unable to come to an agreement either among themselves, or with the bishop, who presides over them, con- cerning the person, who ought to be preferred.— It is plain from this passage, that ordinations in those days were managed by a body of presbyters, who selected the persons to be recommended to the bishop, though he him- self had authority to refuse, or admit their application. 4° Q If there were a candidate, who had spent all his life in the lowest rank of the ministry, and had come to extreme old age, I would not through reverence for his years promote even such anone | inconsiderately to the highest order.—p. 93. and) TEL 6 oJ The practice of advancing era to the priesthood, as a matter of course, after a short probation, had not begun in the ae of Chrysostom.
He must look to one thing th the edification of the church, doing nothing from resentment or partialty.—p. 100.
It cannot but be admitted, if there be no exaggeration in the foregoing statements, as well as in others in the fifth book, that the church in Chrysostom’s days was overrun with abuses of the most flagrant description; in the midst of which it is refreshing to observe the high tone of christian principle, which he maintains in laying down the duties of a faithful pastor, and the perpetual reference, which he makes, to scripture, as the sole and sufficient authority for all his maxims.
She professes to exhibit upon earth the conduct of angels, and in this flesh to follow the steps of those unembodied spirits.—(p. 108.)
Where is the scriptural authority for exalting young females, who have devoted themselves to a single life, above all other christians, nay, above the rank of angels, who (it is intimated) cannot surpass their virtue, though they are exempted from their temptations? If the innocence of young women is often "exposed to peril in the world through the flattery of their admirers, their humility has sometimes been equally endan- gered in the church through the proneness of grave divines to elevate them above measure, and thus to puff them up with self-conceit by leading them to form extravagant opinions of their own sanctity.
The virgin ought to be confined within walls, and not to go out of the house.—p. 112.
How strong an evidence is this to the fact, that the best security for female innocence is the parental roof, and that the disruption of family ties and family affections, by which the seclusion of a nunnery is purchased, is the abandonment of a heaven-appointed barrier for one of human invention!
The church of Christ is his body.—p. 136.
It will be observed, that notwithstanding the figurative description, in which Chrysostom indulges, of the solemnities of the holy eucharist, the body of Christ according to him is not the sacramental bread, but the church.
Whatever offences may have been committed, one only method and course of treatment is to be adopted, instruction through the word.—p 137.
How very distinctly Chrysostom here, and further on in the hundred-and-forty-fifth page propounds, as the one only medicine for the diseases of the soul, not the sacraments, but instruction through the word!
No trace of that faculty remains to us.—p.
The testimony, borne by Chrysostom in this passage to the total absence of all miraculous powers in his day, cannot pass unnoticed.
Who beseeches God to be propitious to the sins of all men, not only of the living, but also of the departed.—(p. 183.)
It is impossible to deny, that prayers for the dead formed a part of those uncommanded and supererogatory services, from which it was reserved for the reformation in the sixteenth century to purify the church of Christ.
There are angels, who stand near the priest.— The superstitious credulity of Chrysostom in this particular on matters not revealed, and the honour, paid in these fables to the outward symbols, appointed by our lord to be signs of his most blessed body and blood, illustrate the declension, which the church had even then undergone from the simplicity of the gospel.
The chief of these is the necessity of holding intercourse with females.—p. 195.
The frequent allusion to this source of danger in the life of a priest demonstrates still further the inconvenience and mischief, arising from forming men and women into separate communities instead of blending them in families, where natural affection is under the blessing of God, and by his providential appointment, the best guardian of purity. The necessity, entailed upon the priest, of visiting establishments of females, associated for religious purposes, but separated from their parents and brothers, was a very different thing, and far more ensnaring than the occasional intercourse, which naturally arises in mixed society, while the merit, attached in those days to a single life, by prohibiting to a great extent the formation of an honorable attachment rendered the attractions of female society peculiarly perilous to a minister, who exposed himself to them from one sense of duty, and yet felt it necessary to be altogether upon his guard against them from another.
If I remain here in quiet,. these enemies will be subdued.—(p. 206.)
There is an apparent inconsistency between the expectation, which Chrysostom here avows, of subduing his constitutional failings by solitude, and thus fitting himself for being event- ually admitted to the more active duties of the priesthood, and the reasoning, pursued about twenty pages before, which led him to observe, that few succeed well in the ministry, who are brought to it out of the monastic school.
When he, who ought to marshal and array the rest, is the most inexperienced and helpless of all, he commands for the devil rather than for Christ.
The ostentatious enumeration of all the particulars of war- fare, both temporal and spiritual, which precedes this’ state- ment, must surprise a modern reader. But the sentiment, inculcated in it, that the warfare, in which we are engaged, is infinitely more important as well as more formidable than any earthly contention, is worthy of all observation; and the dan- ger, arising to the church of Christ from the intrusion into the ministry of ignorant, inexperienced, and incompetent per- sons, is forcibly stated in the sentence, quoted above. But the comparison of a priest to a general is liable to mislead: for although all christians ought to act with as much coopera- tion, or at least with the same unanimity, as the soldiers of an army, and although in both cases union is strength, the duty of a minister is not, like that of a general, to move the united body, but to watch over the individual members of his band, to fit and animate each of them for the particular office, assigned to him, and in this way to please him, who hath called him to be a soldier. His duty is by testimony and example, or, as St. Paul states it, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the holy ghost, by love un- feigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, to win sinners to repentance, encourage believers in the faith, and in short to hold fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort, and to convince the gainsayers. But to compare this minute watchfulness over the individuals of a flock to the work of a general, whose concern is with masses of men, and who dis- regards individuals, except as they are constituent members of the army under his command, is to give an incorrect view of his condition and duty, and tends unduly to exalt him instead of securing to him the honour, which is his just due. When however we thus take a just view of the patient atten- tion, which is required from a faithful minister, to the cir- cumstances and characters of those, over whom he presides, we may well ask—‘ Who is sufficient for these things? ’—, and can only comfort ourselves with the thought, that, while we attempt this task not in our own strength, but in that of him, who has called us, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.
In the few foregoing notes I have endeavored to bring the leading sentiments of this memorable treatise to the tri- bunal of holy scripture. The opinions of ancient fathers deserve all respect, and should be examined with tenderness. But it would be treason to the majesty of scripture to exempt any christian writer of any age from subjection to its supreme authority, or not to scrutinize with all freedom every senti- ment, which seems at variance with its instructions. In respect to the fathers in particular, they, like other chris- tians, received their rule of action from the Bible. But from the necessary want of experience in the early ages of the gospel they carried some principles to an extravagant length, from which nothing, but experience of the result, could reclaim either them, or us. But it is in this, as in natural truths. Opinionum commenta delet dies; nature, or, as we may say scripture judicia confirmat.
When christians perceived the dangerous lengths, to which weak believers carried, and the erroneous notions, which they deduced from incautious or enraptured expressions of some venerated fathers, they learned to be more careful in their language, to measure their phrases by a more studious adhe- rence to the original text, and to discern distinctions, which the errors of others had brought into prominence. Thus the experience of succeeding ages has the same effect on the church at large, which advancing years have upon an indivi- dual. If it abate in any degree the fervour, it improves the precision of its language: and hence it may be expected, and has in fact been found to come to pass, that the doctrinal statements of later ages have been more studiously scriptural and correct than those of a preceding age; and the reason- ings of successive generations upon the same texts, like the experiments and calculations of natural philosophers upon the same phenomena, increase knowledge, and produce a more exact theology. Hence the doctrinal articles of the reformation, as exhibited in the confessions of the reformed churches, surpass in scriptural accuracy any thing, that can be collected from the writings of those, who are called the fathers: and perhaps, as it has been judiciously and acutely observed, it would be more strictly in analogy to call the early writers the younger confessors of our Lord, and the reformers the fathers of the church, as being the more mature and ripened pro- fessors of christian truth, who had profited by the errors of their predecessors, and by bringing all their opinions to the test of scripture had been enabled to produce a more accurate, if in any respect a colder theology.
Thus the modern theory of development appears in one view of it to be true: for experience develops more and more the mind of the spirit, as revealed in the scriptures. - No new revelation indeed has been made, nor any new source of revelation opened. But continued researches, added to the progressive fulfilment of prophecy, and the result of experi- ments, made upon human nature by successive attempts to give effect to the directions of scripture, have disclosed and explained what was obscure, and given us a more distinct apprehension than our ancestors could obtain of many particu- lars in the scheme of revelation.