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"1. After these things, I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, as it were the voice of a trumpet speaking with me, said: Come up hither, and I will shew thee the things which must be done hereafter.

2. And immediately I was in the spirit: and be hold there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne one sitting.

3. And he that sat was to the sight like jasper and the sardine stone: and there was a rainbow about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

4. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats, four and twenty ancients sitting, clothed in white garments, and on their heads were crowns of gold."

1. Chapters iv-v serve as an introduction to the visions which follow. They describe the constitution of the church on earth, and the worship which it gives to Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.

The prophet sees the throne of God surrounded by the Apostles, the Evangelists, the faithful, and angels with censers of sweet-smelling incense. Beneath the throne are the martyrs who have suffered for their Faith, and in front of it stand the seven burning lamps. In the midst of the throne stands the Lamb of God as if slain.