hem;
so that it may be affirmed that nothing is more certain than the
existence of good angels and their apparitions.

I place in the number of apparitions, not only those of good or bad
angels, and the spirits of the dead who show themselves to the living,
but also those of the living who show themselves to the angels or
souls of the dead; whether these apparitions are seen in dreams, or
during sleep, or awaking; whether they manifest themselves to all
those who are present, or only to the persons to whom God judges
proper to manifest them. For instance, in the Apocalypse,[36] St. John
saw the four animals, and the four-and-twenty elders, who were clothed
in white garments and wore crowns of gold upon their heads, and were
seated on thrones around that of the Almighty, who prostrated
themselves before the throne of the Eternal, and cast their crowns at
his feet.

And, elsewhere: "I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the
world,[37] who held back the four winds and prevented them from
blowing on the earth; then I saw another angel, who rose on the side
of the east, and who cried out to the four angels who had orders to
hurt the earth, Do no harm to the earth, or the sea, or the trees,
until we have impressed a sign on the foreheads of the servants of
God. And I heard that the number of those who received this sign (or
mark) was a hundred and forty-four thousand. Afterwards I saw an
innumerable multitude of all nations, tribes, people, and languages,
standing before the throne of the Most High, arrayed in white
garments, and having palms in their hands."

And in the same book[38] St. John says, after having described the
majesty of the throne of God, and the adoration paid to him by the
angels and saints prostrate before him, one of the elders said to
him,--"Those whom you see covered with white robes, are those who have
suffered great trials and afflictions, and have washed their robes in
the blood of the Lamb; for which reason they stand before the throne
of God, and will do so night and day in his temple; and He who is
seated on the throne will reign over them, and the angel which is in
the midst of the throne will conduct them to the fountains of living
water." And, again,[39] "I saw under the altar of God the souls of
those who have been put to death for defending the Word of God, and
for the testimony which they have rendered; they cried with a loud
voice, saying, When, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge