And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory.

“We make mention also of the seraphim, whom Isaiah in the Holy Spirit saw standing around the throne of God, and with two of their wings veiling their face, and with two their feet, while with two they flew, crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." For the reason of our reciting this confession of God, delivered down to us from the seraphim, is this, that so we may be partakers with the hosts of the world above in their hymn of praise.”

“Cherubim and seraphim with unwearied voices praise him and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts." They say it not once, lest you should believe that there is but one; not twice, lest you should exclude the Spirit; they say not holies [in the plural], lest you should imagine that there is plurality, but they repeat three times and say the same word, that even in a hymn you may understand the distinction of persons in the Trinity and the oneness of the Godhead, and while they say this they proclaim God.”

“Do you desire to learn how the powers above pronounce that name; with what awe, with what terror, with what wonder? "I saw the Lord," says the prophet, "sitting upon a throne, high, and lifted up; around him stood the seraphim; and one cried to another and said, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" Do you perceive with what dread, with what awe, they pronounce that name while glorifying and praising him? But you, in your prayers and supplications, call upon him with much listlessness; when it would become you to be full of awe and to be watchful and sober!”

“What are we going to do there? Tell me. Sleep? Yes, here people who have nothing to do just sleep. But there is no sleep there, because there is no weariness. So we aren't going to perform works of necessity, aren't going to sleep—what are we going to do? None of us must be afraid of boredom; none of us must imagine it's going to be so boring there. Do you find it boring now to be well? You can get tired of anything and everything in this age; can you get tired of being well? If you don't get tired of good health, will you get tired of immortality? So what activity are we going to engage in? "Amen" and "Alleluia." Here, you see, we do one thing and another, there one thing, I don't say day and night but day without end; what the powers of heaven, the seraphim, say now without ever getting bored: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts."”

“"A thousand thousand stand before Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand minister unto Him"; now this concerneth the Seraphim who stand above Him, having their wings spread out to fly, and this one crieth to this, saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." And concerning the Cherubim it is written that they were yoked unto a chariot, and while their faces looked downwards, the motions of their spiritual natures were directed whither was the Most High. And spiritual beings stand in this service, and the hosts and ranks of heaven are obedient unto the word of Jesus. And concerning the Apostles it is written, "They shall sit upon thrones," and this indicateth to us the greatness of their honour, and their equality with Him in inheritance.”

“he saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, while the Seraphim stood in a circle around him, the one having six wings, and the other six wings, with which they did cover themselves, and the one cried out to the other and said: Holy, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth! the whole earth is full of his glory. God again used an expression ambiguously respecting the Trinity, repeating thrice through Isaiah the word Holy which he made applicable to one God, saying: The Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory; showing both the number of the three Persons and the unity of the Godhead.”

“And one called to the other They would take permission from one another so that one would not commence before [his fellows] and be guilty of [a sin punishable by] burning, unless they all commenced simultaneously. This is what was established in [the blessing commencing:] “...Who formed light,” “the declaration of holiness, they all respond as one...” This is a Midrash Aggadah of the account of the Merkavah. And so did Jonathan render this. Holy, holy, holy Three times, as the Targum renders.”

“And one cried unto another. The number of the seraphim is not mentioned; some believe they were two, but I am of opinion that there were many. Holy, holy, holy. Repeated thrice, to express the continuity of the declaration. Comp. Jer. 7:4, Jer. 22:29. Holy. An adjective. Holiness is an essential attribute of the Lord; it is therefore the same in every place. God showed Isaiah this vision, that he might purify himself from the uncleanness of the lips; for the Lord is holy, and so also should be His servants and messengers. Hosts. Angels that are above. The whole earth, etc. Although He is holy above, still His glory filleth the earth below. He who explains מלא כל הארץ that which filleth the whole earth, that is, its inhabitants, and compares it with וּמְלאׇׁהּ and the fulness thereof (Ps. 24), is mistaken. Comp. ה׳ את כל הארץ וימלא כבוד And the whole earth will be full of the glory of the Lord. (Num. 14:21)”

“In the year that the king died. After he reproved the fault in the two tribes, adding the corrective punishment, here he threatens the punishment that finally condemns, namely the punishment of hardening; and therefore this punishment is foretold in the manner of a sentence, and with the solemnity of judgment. This chapter is therefore divided into three parts. In the first, the author of the sentence is described, namely the judge; in the second, the herald of the sentence, the minister of the judge, at the place, "And I said: Woe is me"; in the third, the sentence itself is set down, at the place, "Hear, you that hear." Concerning the first, two things are set down. First, the time of the vision; second, the vision itself, at the place, "I saw the Lord sitting." As to the first, he says: in the year that Ozias died, who in 4 Kings 15 is called Azarias, struck with leprosy by the Lord because he wished to usurp the priestly office, as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 26. But after he was struck, his son Joatham governed the king's house and the kingdom until his death; yet he is not said to have reigned then, but rather to have carried on his father's role; but he first reigned when his father died. Hence this vision was shown while Joatham was reigning, and the preceding matters while Ozias was reigning. I saw the Lord sitting. Here the vision is set down: and first he describes the throne of the judge; second, the ministry of those attending, at the place "Seraphim." Now this vision is said by some to have been imaginary, by others intellectual. And a figure is taken up by the prophet himself from something similar, as Dionysius says in the epistle to Titus, that to the prophets, to the things which they see plainly without figures, figures are put around for the leading-by-hand of the hearers, who through sensible figures can more easily grasp them. However this may be, two things must be seen here. First, the imagining of the figure, whether seen by the prophet, or composed by him; and second, the signification of that figure itself: for in order to signify something spiritually, sensible figures of spiritual things are introduced in sacred Scripture, as Dionysius says: and that will be the literal sense; just as also in metaphorical speech it is not that which is signified by the words, but what the speaker through the words wishes to signify. Concerning the first, then, it must be known that the temple built by Solomon had a height of a hundred and twenty cubits, as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 3, and its height was divided into three houses; of which the highest had sixty cubits, and each of the two lower ones thirty. And of these it is said in 3 Kings 6: by a winding stair they went up into the middle chamber, and from the middle into the third. He saw, then, the throne of the Lord in the highest chamber; on account of which it is said, "high," that is, lofty, as also "lifted up," above all the chambers: and from the brightness of his countenance the middle chamber shone: on account of which it is said: "the house was full of majesty," that is, of his glory; and the things that were under him, that is, the ornaments of his throne, or even the splendor of his garments, or the ranks of his subjects, filled the lowest chamber, into which the priests entered: on account of which he says, "temple." Others say otherwise, that he saw the lofty throne in the middle chamber, which is called the house, which was full of the middle members and arms of the Lord; below, which is called the temple, of the feet and shins; but the head and neck stood forth into the third story. 3 Kings, last chapter: I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left. Proverbs 20: the king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters all evil round about him. Concerning the second, it must be known that the signification of this vision is assigned in three ways by different people. For some say that by the sitting on the throne is signified the future oppression of captivity: by the filling of the house with majesty is signified that the enemies who were under his disposition would fill the temple: and the histories touch on this. Jerome, however, expounds otherwise, and better, that by the seat is signified the majesty of the Son of God, on account of which it is said in John 12: these things said Isaias, when he saw his glory, and spoke of him. By the throne are signified the Angels, in whom God sits. Psalm 79: who sittest upon the Cherubim. By the house, the Church triumphant, which is full of his glory. By the temple, the Church militant, which is full of miracles, or of the ranks of Angels, as if guardians. Dionysius expounds otherwise in the 13th chapter of the Celestial Hierarchy, and better, as it seems. By the throne is signified the eminence of the divine nature, and it is called "lofty" on account of its nobility, "lifted up" as if raised above other things, inasmuch as it exceeds all things infinitely; in which he is said to sit on account of immobility. Hence he says in the 9th chapter On the Divine Names: what indeed is to be said of the divine standing, except that it remains fixed singularly in itself in immovable identity? And the whole creature is called the house, which is full of majesty, inasmuch as it is filled with a participation of his goodness according to its capacity. And by the temple he seems to understand the higher creatures themselves, which are filled with the things that are under him, inasmuch as the goodnesses received in them fall short of the goodness of God, which nevertheless they seem to approach. But against this it is objected. Exodus 33: for man shall not see me, and live, that is, living in this mortal flesh. 1 John 4: no man hath seen God at any time. Therefore neither did Isaias. To which it must be said that neither interior nor exterior sight can see unless it be moved by the visible thing; and according as it is more perfectly changed by the visible thing, the better it sees. And then it sees most perfectly when it receives the action of the visible thing according to its whole power. And hence it is that the same thing is seen in different ways by different people, both interiorly and exteriorly; by some better, and by some worse. This visible object, therefore, which is God, nothing comprehends perfectly except that which grasps the whole of him, and therefore he alone sees himself in this way. Hence the heavenly secret (says Chrysostom) is seen by some in its own essence without a medium for this, according to the perfection which those attaining to it have from the divine light received, as by the blessed in their homeland, and by those who are lifted up by rapture to that manner of vision. But by those having a less perfect sight, it is seen according to certain likenesses of his goodness, whether in sensible things, or in images, or in intelligible species. And of this kind is the vision by which the prophets saw through the light of prophecy, and by which we see through faith, and by which he is seen through the light of reason, even by philosophers, who also knew God, as is said in Romans 1. But then there remains the question, whether the prophets received such a vision immediately from God, or through the mediation of Angels. And it seems that it was immediate, from the very manner of speaking: because he says, I saw the Lord, and not, I saw an Angel. Likewise concerning Moses, Exodus 33: the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend. Likewise they saw in the mirror of eternity, as is commonly said: therefore some saw God. To which it must be said, according to Dionysius, 4th chapter On the Celestial Hierarchy, that no mere man, neither among the fathers of the New nor of the Old Testament, received any revelation from God except through the mediation of Angels. And he says that this is an inviolable law, that through the first mediating things they are led back into the divine; and he proves this by an argument from the greater, because even Moses received the law through the mediation of Angels, who nevertheless saw most excellently; which is proved by that which is found in Galatians 3: what then is the law? It was set because of transgression, until the seed should come to whom God had promised, ordained by Angels in the hand of a mediator. Acts 7: who have received the law by the disposition of Angels, and have not kept it. To the first, then, it must be said that this reasoning can hold both on the part of the end of the vision, and on the part of the principle. On the part of the end, because the Angel revealing intends to lead man into the knowledge of God, and not into the knowledge of himself; and therefore he forms the vision about God, so that from those things which are seen figuratively, something about God may be known. But on the part of the principle, because the whole power of the angelic light for manifesting anything is from God the author, who is the fount of light; just as in demonstrative matters the whole power of the light or manifestation is from the first principles. Hence Gregory says in the Gloss on the third chapter of Exodus: the Angel who is described as having appeared to Moses is announced now as the Lord, now as an Angel. An Angel, because he serves by speaking outwardly; the Lord, because presiding inwardly he grants the efficacy of speaking. For since the one speaking is ruled from within, he is called both Angel through his service, and Lord through his inspiration. To the second it must be said that this is said on account of the most eminent manner of clear vision, by which Moses saw beyond the other prophets, as is said in Numbers 12. To the third it must be said that the mirror of eternity is not said to be God himself, but the very species which are in the soul of the prophet; and they are called a mirror inasmuch as the disposition of eternal wisdom is reflected in them. Seraphim stood. Here he sets down the office of the ministers: and first he describes the order of the ministers; second, their praise, at "And they cried: Holy." Concerning the first he sets down three things. First he sets down the rank of the ministers, saying: the Seraphim stood beneath it, namely the temple, because this order is supreme among all, as Dionysius says in the Gloss here. Also note, that "Seraphim" written with an m is of the plural number and masculine gender, and signifies several of that order; but written with an n it is of the plural number and neuter gender, and signifies the whole host of that order; but "Seraphin" is of the singular number and masculine gender, and signifies only one of that order. Below, 62: upon thy walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen: all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. And he says, "stood," upright through contemplation, as if attending. Second he sets down the adornment of the ministers in the sixfold number of wings. Six wings. Third, the use of the wings: with two they covered his face. In the Hebrew it is said ambiguously; and it can be expounded that they covered the face of God; and thus Jerome takes it: or that they covered their own face; and thus Dionysius takes it, according to whom the sense is that the head was covered, and the feet, and the middle of the body. With two they flew, namely the middle ones. Ezechiel 1: each one with two others covered its body. And below in the same place: and I heard the sound of the wings, like the sound of many waters. The signification of this vision is taken in three ways. The Hebrew says that by the twelve wings are understood the twelve kings who ruled over the people from Ozias, under whom the vision began, and thereafter; of whom only four were just, namely Ozias, Joatham, Ezechias, and Josias: and therefore they flew with four wings. But the others were ashamed before the sight of God, and therefore covered their face: of whom four possessed the kingdom freely, namely Achaz, Manasses, Amon, and Joathan, who were made kings by the people; and these are signified by the wings that were at the head. But the other four possessed the kingdom under the servitude of others. Hence they were made kings by others, and not by the people, as Joachim by Pharaoh, Jechonias and Sedecias and Godolias: of whom it is said in Jeremiah 41, that Ismael and ten men who were with him killed Godolias, whom the king of Babylon had set over the land. For the aforesaid last three were appointed by Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon. Jerome says that they are called winged, either because they dwell above, or on account of the swiftness of their ministry: and he understands by the twelve wings the ministry of perfection, which is commended in the number twelve, as the twelve gems in the diadem of the priest, and so of the others. And with two they fly, et cetera. Because the things that were before the world or after the world, they conceal from us, and they show what happens in the six ages of the world: or because past and future things are unknown to us, but present things we know; so that this is referred to the act of ministry; and that which he said, "stood," to this, that they attend upon God. Dionysius expounds otherwise, in the 13th chapter of the Celestial Hierarchy and the 4th chapter of the Ecclesiastical; and he says that they are called winged, because after the likeness of one flying, they have a lofty and free contemplation. Now a threefold pair of wings is described; because the Seraphim see the things that pertain to themselves, who are of the first hierarchy, and the things that pertain to the other two more eminently than those; so that by one wing is understood the capacity of nature, and by the other the light participated from God, because by these two they are raised up. But the things that pertain to the hierarchies are from God as from a principle, and are ordered to God as to an end; and in both ways they cannot be perfectly understood by the Angels; which the covering signifies. And there are also, in the Angels themselves, as it were middle things between the beginning and the end; and thus they have perfect and free knowledge of these, and therefore with the two middle wings they flew, and cried. Here he sets down their praise: and concerning this he does three things. First he sets down the manner of praising as to devotion, because they cried out from greatness of affection; as to concord, because "each" cried; and as to order, because "to the other." For one receives from the other, as Dionysius holds. Job 38: where wast thou when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody? Second he sets down the song of praise, at "holy, holy, holy." And they praise three things. The Trinity of Persons: "holy, holy, holy." The majesty of the Unity: "the Lord God of hosts," who is over all. Apocalypse 4: holy, holy, holy, the Lord God almighty, who is, and who was, and who is to come. The liberality of providence: "all the earth is full of his glory": because even to the last creatures, which are understood by "the earth," he extends the diffusion of his goodness. Jeremiah 23: do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? And this according to Dionysius, 7th chapter of the Celestial Hierarchy. Jerome: "all the earth is full," through the knowledge of faith. Ecclesiasticus 42: his work is full of the glory of the Lord. Hath not the Lord made the saints to declare all his wonderful works, which the Lord almighty hath confirmed to be established for his glory? Third, at "and the lintels were moved," he sets down the effect of the praise, namely the punishment of sinners. Below, 65: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry; behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty; behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit. And the destruction of the temple is signified. The lintels of the hinges were moved. Amos 9: strike the hinge, and let the lintels be moved. And its burning is signified. And the house was filled with smoke, of the burning by the Romans after the faith of Christ was known. Or by the smoke, the unbelief of the Jews; by the moving of the hinges, the removal of the legal observances, or ceremonies, which were as it were shadows closing off the approach to the truth. And I said. Here the herald of the sentence is set down: and first his humility is shown; second his purity, at "and he flew"; third, authority, at "and I heard." Humility, in the confession of sin. Now he confesses a threefold sin. The first, in speech, of omission: "woe," because "I held my peace," by not reproving King Ozias; and thus he laments the fault; "I held my peace" from the praise of God, and thus he laments the loss. Below, 56: his watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant, dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams. Ecclesiasticus 15: praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner. Of commission: because I am a man of polluted lips. Ecclesiasticus 23: let not thy mouth be accustomed to undisciplined speech, for therein is the word of sin. Second, of the company of evil people: "and in the midst of a people." 1 Corinthians 15: for evil communications corrupt good manners. Third, the sin of presumption: "and the king, the Lord of hosts"; as if he were to say: he who is impure cannot enter his temple, how much less can he see him himself; Judges 13: we shall die the death, because we have seen the Lord. And this was out of reverence. But Jacob said, Genesis 32: I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved. And this is out of confidence. Jerome: happy the conscience which sinned only in speech, having polluted lips not by its own fault, but that of the people. And he flew to me. Here purity is shown from the purgation of sins: and concerning this three things are set down. The minister of the purgation: "he flew to me"; the instrument of the purgation: "and in his hand a coal from the altar of holocausts." The altar within was of earth, as is said in Exodus 20: you shall make me an altar of earth. But all around it was of stones, where the fires of sacrifice were gathered; and from these he took the coal with tongs, an instrument having two arms, by which the receptive power can be signified; and by the altar, the divine light or goodness itself; and by the coal, the gift received for the office of purgation. Or by the fire, tribulation; by the Seraph, Christ; by the tongs, the two testaments; by the coal, charity, which is in the hand, that is, in his operation. Third, the manner of purging: "and he touched my mouth, and said"; just as in the sacraments there is an action and a form of words; behold, "he touched," expresses the act; and "iniquity shall be taken away," toward men, "sin," toward God. And he does not say, "I will take away," because it belongs to God alone to remit sin. Below, 43: I am, I am he that blot out thy iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins. Concerning all these, Daniel 9: behold the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice, and he instructed me, and spoke to me. But against this it is objected that Dionysius says that those of the higher orders are not sent into ministry; but it is established that the Seraphim are the highest: therefore it does not seem true that they come for the purgation of the prophet. To which it must be said that Gregory touches on this question in a certain homily on the hundred sheep, and leaves it in doubt. But Dionysius expressly holds that only the lower orders are sent to us: and he says that this is by the order of the divine law, that lower things are led back through intermediaries. But as to what is said here, he resolves it in two ways. In one way, that this Angel who purges is called "Seraphim" equivocally, not from the order, but from the act which he then exercised, because he purged with fire, and "Seraphin" means a burning. In the other way, he resolves it by saying that it is properly said of him who is of that order; and he is said to purge, not because he himself immediately purges, but because by his authority, or by an illumination received from him, a lower Angel purged. And he gives an example. Just as a bishop is said to absolve when another absolves by his authority. And therefore, out of reverence, the lower Angel, who formed the vision, refers it back to God first, and to the Seraph second; as if he were to say: I purge you through the light received from God, by the mediation of the Seraph. The Septuagint have "carbuncles," on account of the likeness to fire. For it has a flaming color.”

“And one cried unto another,.... This denotes the publicness of their ministry, and their harmony and unity in it; they answered to one another, and agreed in what they said; their preaching was not yea and nay, Co2 1:19, and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; this expresses the subject matter of the Gospel ministry, respecting the holiness of God; all the doctrines of the Gospel are pure and holy, and have a tendency to promote holiness of heart and life, and are agreeable to the holiness of God, and in them the holiness of God in each of the divine Persons is declared; particularly the Gospel ministry affirms that there is one God, who is the Lord of hosts, of armies above and below, of angels and men; that there are three Persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit; and that each of these three are glorious in holiness; there is the Holy Father, and the Holy Son, and the Holy Ghost, and the holiness of them is displayed in each of the doctrines of grace: the holiness of the Father appears in the choice of persons to eternal life, through sanctification of the Spirit; in the covenant of grace, which provides for the holiness of covenant ones; and in the justification of his people through Christ, and redemption by him, whereby the honour of his justice and holiness is secured: the holiness of the Son appears in his incarnation and life; in redemption from sin by him, and in satisfying for it, and justifying from it: and the holiness of the Spirit is seen in the doctrines of regeneration and sanctification, ascribed unto him. The whole earth is full of his glory; as it was when Christ dwelt in it, wrought his miracles, and manifested forth his glory, and when his Gospel was preached everywhere by his apostles; and as it will be, more especially in the latter day, when it will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord; when the kingdoms of this world will become his, and his kingdom will be everywhere, even from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth; and this is what Gospel ministers declare will be: or "the fulness of the whole earth is his glory" (m); the earth is his, and all that is in it, and all declare his glory; see Rev 4:8. (m) "plenitudo totius terrae gloria ejus", Montanus; "quicquid replet terram est gloria ejus", Piscator.”

“"And one cried to the other, and said, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts: filling the whole earth is His glory." The meaning is not that they all lifted up their voice in concert at one and the same time (just as in Psa 42:8 el is not used in this sense, viz., as equivalent to C'neged), but that there was a continuous and unbroken antiphonal song. One set commenced, and the others responded, either repeating the "Holy, holy, holy," or following with "filling the whole earth is His glory." Isaiah heard this antiphonal or "hypophonal" song of the seraphim, not merely that he might know that the uninterrupted worship of God was their blessed employment, but because it was with this doxology as with the doxologies of the Apocalypse, it had a certain historical significance in common with the whole scene. God is in Himself the Holy One (kâdōsh), i.e., the separate One, beyond or above the world, true light, spotless purity, the perfect One. His glory (Câbod) is His manifested holiness, as Oetinger and Bengel express it, just as, on the other hand, His holiness is His veiled or hidden glory. The design of all the work of God is that His holiness should become universally manifest, or, what is the same thing, that His glory should become the fulness of the whole earth (Isa 11:9; Num 14:21; Hab 2:14). This design of the work of God stands before God as eternally present; and the seraphim also have it ever before them in its ultimate completion, as the theme of their song of praise. But Isaiah was a man living in the very midst of the history that was moving on towards this goal; and the cry of the seraphim, in the precise form in which it reached him, showed him to what it would eventually come on earth, whilst the heavenly shapes that were made visible to him helped him to understand the nature of that divine glory with which the earth was to be filled. The whole of the book of Isaiah contains traces of the impression made by this ecstatic vision. The favourite name of God in the mouth of the prophet viz., "the Holy One of Israel" (kedosh Yisrael), is the echo of this seraphic sanctus; and the fact that this name already occurs with such marked preference on the part of the prophet in the addresses contained in Isaiah 1:2-4:5, supports the view that Isaiah is here describing his own first call. All the prophecies of Isaiah carry this name of God as their stamp. It occurs twenty-nine times (including Isa 10:17; Isa 43:15; Isa 49:7), viz., twelve times in chapters 1-39, and seventeen times in chapters 40-66. As Luzzatto has well observed, "the prophet, as if with a presentiment that the authenticity of the second part of his book would be disputed, has stamped both parts with this name of God, 'the Holy One of Israel,' as if with his own seal." The only other passages in which the word occurs, are three times in the Psalms (Psa 71:22; Psa 78:41; Psa 89:19), and twice in Jeremiah (Jer 50:29; Jer 51:5), and that not without an allusion to Isaiah. It forms an essential part of Isaiah's distinctive prophetic signature. And here we are standing at the source from which it sprang. But did this thrice-holy refer to the triune God? Knobel contents himself with saying that the threefold repetition of the word "holy" serves to give it the greater emphasis. No doubt men are accustomed to say three times what they wish to say in an exhaustive and satisfying manner; for three is the number of expanded unity, of satisfied and satisfying development, of the key-note extended into the chord. But why is this? The Pythagoreans said that numbers were the first principle of all things; but the Scriptures, according to which God created the world in twice three days by ten mighty words, and completed it in seven days, teach us that God is the first principle of all numbers. The fact that three is the number of developed and yet self-contained unity, has its ultimate ground in the circumstance that it is the number of the trinitarian process; and consequently the trilogy (trisagion) of the seraphim (like that of the cherubim in Rev 4:8), whether Isaiah was aware of it or no, really pointed in the distinct consciousness of the spirits themselves to the truine God.”