Apocalypse Chapter 7, verse 9: „I saw a great crowd whom nobody could count, from all tribes and nations and peoples and tongues.‟ Our Lord remakes the unity of mankind in the Catholic Church. „Standing in front of the throne.‟ Standing, in other words, not fallen like the damned. Amos Chapter 8, verse 14. I will actually find the quote. Amos 8:14: „They that swear by the sin of Samaria and say, ‚Thy god, O Dan, liveth, and the way of Beersheba liveth,’ and they shall fall and shall rise no more.‟ So these are standing because they are not fallen like the damned. „In the sight of the Lamb, clothed in white robes.‟ In the sight of the Lamb, the eternal joy, the especial joy of beholding Jesus’ humanity. Saint Theresa of Avila once had a vision of one of Our Lord’s hands, and she was in ecstasy for a quarter of an hour. The especial joy of beholding Our Lord in His humanity, Our Lord’s humanity, which will be in heaven. Clothed in white robes. The white robes represent the purity of soul of the elect, of the saved. „Palms in their hands.‟ Palms mean victory. In their hand, by their works. They have conquered by their works. Palms in their hands: they are victorious by their works. They are pure of soul and victorious by their works.

„And they cried out‟—Clamabant. „They kept on crying out.‟ It is not clamaverunt, but clamabant, the imperfect. They were crying out. „They kept on crying out with a great voice saying, ‚Salvation to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb.’‟ „And all of the angels stood in a circle around the throne.‟ „All of the angels stood around about the throne, and the ancients and the four living creatures, and they fell down before the throne upon their faces and adored God.‟ The angels plus the elders plus the animals equals one single church. „And they fell down in the sight of the throne on their faces and adored God, saying, ‚Amen.’‟

Verse 11 still: „The angels rejoice without jealousy in the salvation of men.‟ Rejoicing in the salvation of men. „Saying, ‚Amen.’‟ Remember Luke 15:32, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over the conversion of one sinner than over the righteousness of 99 righteous. „Blessing, and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, honor and power and strength, to our God forever and ever. Amen.‟

Notice we have got this here of the glory and praise of God: blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and strength. Seven features of the glory and praise of God. In other words, the universality of the glory and praise of God. Seven is the number for completion. Six is the number for incompletion, for imperfection. Seven is the number for perfection. So we have got seven features here of the glory and praise of God signifying the completeness. That wraps it all up. What are these seven features? Benedictio, their own beatitude, because God does not have to receive any blessing. Splendor, knowledge, gratitude, honor in heaven. Number five is honor in heaven. Strength and fortitude to God are… to our God, forever and ever, amen.

So the elder asks him the question, asks John the question. John says, „Well, you tell me and we will both know.‟ And the elder then replies. So the elder tells him, „Who are they and where have they come from?‟ Verse 14: „My lord, thou knowest.‟ And he said to me, „These are they who came from the great tribulation.‟ In other words, the great tribulation is what made these saints what they are. They came from the great tribulation; the great tribulation made these saints what they are. What is the great tribulation? The great tribulation is the collection of trials by the world, the flesh, and the devil, the series of trials by the world, the flesh, and the devil which any just soul must undergo in this life. „They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.‟

In the blood of the Lamb, not their own blood, because we are talking about all of the saints and not just the martyrs. In the blood of the Lamb, of course, by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, flowing from the passion, through the sacraments, and through the Church, to all souls, especially the souls of the saved. So it is the blood of the Lamb and not their own blood because we are talking here about all the saints and not just the martyrs. So they have washed their garments in the sacraments of the dead, in baptism and confession, actually in all of the sacraments; particularly washed in the sacraments of baptism and confession. And they have whitened their vestments by their good works. So, it says, „These are they who have come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.‟ So, they washed in confession and penance. They have whitened their vestments by good works, always through grace, coming from the passion of Our Lord. They whitened their vestments in the blood of the Lamb.

Verse 16: „They shall no more hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat.‟ Here you would say there will not be any more Minnesota winters. But then, the Book of the Apocalypse was not written in the state of Minnesota, so he talked about heat rather than about the cold. They will not hunger nor thirst anymore. No hunger, they will have super-substantial bread (Matthew 6:11). There will be no hunger because they will have super-substantial bread. They will not thirst because they will be awash to the eternal life. John Chapter 7, Verse 37: „And Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‚If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’‟ John 7:37-38. They will not thirst. The sun will not strike; there will be no persecution to strike them, or misfortune. They will not hunger. They will not thirst. They will not catch the sun. Sun here means persecution or misfortune.

Verse 17: „Because the Lamb, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall rule them and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.‟ Jesus Himself will lead the saved souls to partake of God’s own wisdom, power, and goodness. Jesus Himself will lead these saved souls to partake of God’s own wisdom, power, and goodness. Darkness is fuori posto, out of place. Compare Isaiah 12:3: „You shall draw waters with joy out of the Savior’s fountains.‟ Who wrote the encyclical Haurietis Aquas? And what was it about? Pius XII. That is right. Haurietis, „You shall draw waters,‟ that is Isaiah 12:3. „You shall draw waters with joy out of the Savior’s fountains.‟ Jesus Himself will lead them to partake of God’s own wisdom, power, and goodness. The Lamb will rule them and will lead them to the fountains of the waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Compare Matthew 5:5, „Blessed are those who mourn.‟

C.S. Lewis is quite a favorite of certainly Anglicans, I think, or Episcopalians, and of sort of civilized people who are sympathetic with Christian civilization. That is the kind of people that like him. And there is a C.S. Lewis group in New York which invited Dr. White to give a lecture on him. This was a week or two ago. He was there and he gave his talk. As he came away, he said—it was maybe three or four weeks ago—but anyway, he was mulling over afterwards what was wrong, what was wrong with these people. They are civilized people. They are decent. They are open to religion. They like C.S. Lewis. They liked my conference. What is wrong? And he said, finally he honestly came up with: they do not mourn. They are not mourning. They are comfortable people. They have got nice, comfy lives. They have got themselves adjusted to religion. Religion is good. Civilization is nice. I have got a nice job. I have probably got a nice family. I have probably got a nice house. They are not mourning. And there is a problem if they are not mourning.

On the other hand, you take some of these little old ladies who can hardly put one thought behind another, but who pray the rosary all day long and who are brokenhearted over the state of the church. How many of you know such little old ladies? Yes, well, they are the salt of the earth, and you know, „Blessed are they that mourn.‟ That is it. And unblessed are they that do not mourn. Actually in Luke, chapter 6— cursed are you that laugh and rejoice. Find that quote. Luke 6:20. „Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now. Blessed are ye that weep now. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you.‟ That is four blessings. Verse 24: „Woe to you that are rich.‟ Woe, 25: „Woe to you that are filled.‟ Twenty-five and a half: „Woe to you that now laugh.‟ Oh, dear. What about the smiley, smiley partners? „Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when men shall bless you.‟ There you are, see. So there are four blessed and four woes in Luke. And woe to you that now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep.

That is not the way the world goes. The modern world, every time anybody gets anywhere near you with a camera, you have got to crack out in the most ginormous smile, as though everything is absolutely wonderful and happy and great, and you have got every brand of toothpaste in the calendar to advertise. And that is compulsory, and you are not allowed to look like anything other than stupendously and irreversibly and ineluctably, blessedly happy. Well, that is not the way Our Lord thinks. „Blessed are they that mourn.‟ So every time a camera comes near you from now on, you look glum and mourning and you start weeping, all right?

Therefore during this life, blessed are they that mourn (Matthew 5:5). All the saints weep for various reasons, because this world is out of joint. „The world is out of joint. Oh, cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right.‟ Fox? Holden? Audience guess? Hamlet, yes, it is Hamlet. The world is out of joint in one way or another, and the saints realize it, and they do not pretend it away like the smiley, smiley people. The smiley, smiley people, „How are you?‟ „Great.‟ „Did not your grandmother die just yesterday?‟ „Oh, I am great. I am feeling great. Wonderful.‟ „But I thought your son just committed suicide.‟ „Oh, I am feeling great.‟ So, the saints mourn. The smiley, smiley people refuse to mourn. So blessed are those who mourn. All the saints have some kind of tears. The Archbishop, you could often hear the tears. You could hear them in his sermon. He did not cry, but his voice would crack sometimes as he began talking about the Church. As he would talk about the Church, you could hear his voice cracking. He never broke out in tears, but he was crying internally; it was obvious he was crying. So, the saints mourn. All of those tears will be wiped away in heaven. All of those tears of compassion, suffering, and compunction will become sources of eternal joy in beatitude. All of those various kinds of tears of the saints will become sources of eternal joy.

So the seventh seal is the period after the Antichrist. According to Daniel 12, verse 12, this half hour is more or less 45 days. So this verse suggests that after the Antichrist will die, between the death of the Antichrist and the end of the world, there may be a quiet period of 45 days. That is what Daniel suggests. Daniel 12, verse 12, let me read it to you. „Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh unto 1,335 days.‟ „Many shall be chosen and made white and shall be tried as fire and the wicked shall deal wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand but the learned shall understand. And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there should be 1,290 days.‟ That is the reign of the Antichrist, three and a half years. „Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh unto 1,335 days.‟ That is another 45 days, and that period looks like it is the period after the Antichrist. Mysterious, but that is what the Church Fathers think. Half an hour standing for 45 days.

(Audience member): What was the reference again?

Daniel 12, verse 12. If we finish the Apocalypse, which we may well do before the end of the school year, we might have a look at Daniel because Daniel and the Apocalypse kind of sort of go together. We could also look at the Catholic epistles, of course.

All right, let us have a look at chapter 8. „And I saw seven angels standing in the sight of God, and they were given to them seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden thurible, and there was given to him a great deal of incense in order that he should offer of the prayers of all of the saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it on the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and a great earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound the trumpet.‟ That is all of the introduction, and verse seven is the first of the seven trumpets. This introduction: what is a trumpet? A trumpet is preaching. An instrument of war calling Christians to combat and announcing the victories of Christ. „Who shall give battle if the trumpet give an uncertain sound?‟ That is in Paul, 1 Corinthians, I think. So there is an example of trumpet being the blast of Christian truth being preached. So trumpet is preaching, an instrument of war calling Christians to combat and announcing the victories of Christ. Seven, the figure seven stands for the conversion of men by the seven-fold Holy Ghost. As the trumpets are going to sound the truth and doctrine of Christ, and with the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, this is going to convert men.

Therefore, where does the jurisdiction of such bishops, such priests, Society bishops, Society priests come from? Because it is not coming from the Pope. (Audience member): It’s a necessity.

Yes, if you like. It comes from the Church. The Church is supplying. And in what way does the Church supply? How do you know that there is a necessity? Obviously, the whole crazy situation, but who, so to speak, puts in the hands of these priests their jurisdiction?

(Audience member): The faithful come to them with their concerns.

That is it. The faithful, so to speak, as the faithful come towards one of these priests, he triggers the Church supplying jurisdiction. The faithful cannot bring the jurisdiction, and the priest cannot give himself the jurisdiction, but the Church gives the jurisdiction, which is triggered as the faithful come to the priests. So that if nobody came towards us, we would be without jurisdiction. We do not have any from the official Church, that is clear, from the official members of the official hierarchy. Those have not given us any jurisdiction. But they did at the beginning, of course, and that, again, is a very important point. And the Archbishop always insisted greatly upon that, that the Society and the seminary in Switzerland were lawfully founded before… they were completely lawfully founded, and therefore there was a canonical mission and jurisdiction from the Church before the wildcat suspension of 1975. And then the wildcat, et cetera, and then Rome just built… the suspension of 1976 was rested upon… his suspension, suspensio a divinis, the Archbishop was in 1976 when he ordained, in the end of June in 1976, he was strictly, apparently, struck with the Church punishment of suspension. The justification for that suspension was the fact that he had disregarded the dissolution of the Society in 1975. The justification for the dissolution of the Society in 1975 was dot, dot, dot. Michael Davies is arguing it right here in the book we are listening to.

And he said beforehand, „Can I bring somebody with me?‟ „No.‟ „Can I bring a tape recorder?‟ „No.‟ „Will there be a recording of what is said?‟ „Yes.‟ „May I afterwards pick up a tape recording of what is said?‟ „Yes.‟ So afterwards he says, „Well, now may I have a tape recording?‟ „Come back tomorrow.‟ He comes back tomorrow, „May I now have the tape recording you promised me yesterday?‟ „No, you may not.‟ „May I have an account of what was said?‟ „Come back—‟ Then he says, „Then I gave up. I just gave up,‟ he says. With people like that, ugh, it is trash. That is what is in the white trash, those churchmen. And it is much more serious to find that in the Vatican than it is to find it in the White House. Oof. So, white trash. That is what they are.

How can they reach that point? What is the psychological, moral, theological explanation of men at the heights of the Church behaving so dishonestly?

(Audience member): I think they’re just stuck in the horizontal level of personalities and pride.

Personalities and pride, yes. They got stuck on the personal level.

(Audience member): Lack of faith.

Yes. Yes. That is really what it is, it is a lack of faith. They are manipulating the bureaucratic machinery of the Vatican just like it is any bureaucratic machinery, with this difference that when churchmen do it, when churchmen descend to doing that, they do it much worse than anybody. The Archbishop said, „Those churchmen have treated me worse than Russian Communists would have done.‟ That is true. They are blind. They cannot see what they are doing. Their blindness is a punishment. It is a terrible thing. God help us. If you or I go that way, we should be just as bad if not even worse because of the graces that we have received. But they are blind. They cannot see what they are doing. The end justifies the means. They have got into, without realizing it, and I am sure they would deny it if you said that, that they are into the end justifies the means. And you see the whole bureaucratic machine… they, of course, they know all of the tricks. The Vatican has been in business for 2,000 years so they have got some experience. They have got a long experience. They know all of the tricks. They know how to manipulate and maneuver and if they once become dishonest, then, you know, there is no limit to what they will get up to. It is tragic, really. It really is tragic.

So, how did we get onto the Vatican?

(Audience member): The commission.

(Audience member): Given.

Ah, yes. That is it. The commission. And therefore, here it is. They were given to these angels seven trumpets. In the Catholic Church, you have to be given a mission, and the mission that you are given is very important. If you are given a mission, then you can be sure that the Church is behind you. So the Archbishop, I repeat, it was very important that official Church approval of the foundation of the Society way back in 1970 by Bishop Charrière was very important to him because that was, for the Archbishop, the sureness that what he was doing was of the Church and that it had the Church behind it. If he had not had that, then it would have been a wildcat seminary and a wildcat society and all the rest, but it was not. It was only wildcat condemned.