Preface.

gatherings of heathens and unbelievers have been cleared out, as happened in the Old Testament under the Judges and Kings. And in the New Testament, having been spread throughout the whole world, and having obtained powerful Emperors, Kings, and Princes as Sovereign Lords: in which state she The Church, often personified as a woman or bride. was also no less disciplined before her persecutors and enemies, like battle arrays, when these, being well-equipped, march toward their enemies with flying banners to destroy and annihilate them.

Yet just as the Dawn, Sun, Moon, etc., are often so covered and darkened by clouds, mists, eclipses, etc., that they cannot be seen or provide light to people at all, so it likewise happens to the Church. And these metaphors depict the Church not only insofar as they shine and give light, but also insofar as they do not shine and do not give light. Therefore, Ambrose, in the fourth book of his work on the six days of Creation, applies this same comparison of the Sun and Moon to the state of the Church, saying: That the Church has her rising and increase of light, but also a waning of the same. original: "Dat de Kercke hare opganck ende aenwassen des lichts als ooc een afneminge van het selve heeft." To this, Augustine adds in Epistle 48: That she is sometimes entirely covered by the multitude of scandals. In this context, "scandals" refers to spiritual stumbling blocks or moral failings within the community that obscure the Church's true nature. For in the same way, the Church in the Old Testament was darkened and hidden from the eyes of men in the time of Elijah under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel; likewise during the time of the Babylonian captivity. And in the New Testament, during the time of the first persecutions, when the Church had to hide herself in caves and dens, and was pushed so far back that her enemies triumphed and boasted over the extermination of the Christian name. For on a certain commemorative coin struck by Diocletian, A Roman Emperor (reigned 284–305 AD) known for the "Great Persecution" of Christians. this inscription appears: The name of the Christians, who were overturning the Republic, having been deleted. original Latin: "Nomine Christianorum deleto qui Rempub. Euertebant." And in such a state she is shown in Song of Solomon 2:14, by the Dove that lives in the clefts of the rock, and in Revelation 12:6, by the pregnant woman in labor who, being pursued by the Dragon, had to flee into the wilderness.

But just as one sees the Dawn, Sun, and Moon break through the mists and clouds to spread their light, so the Church has every time raised her head again and obtained a good outcome, spreading and expanding herself in the midst of the darkness and the unbelievers of the earth. Just as the examples of the Old and New Testament continually prove. And let this be enough regarding the rising and setting of the Church herself.