Rev 1:20

“Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to whom the apostles committed the Churches; which fact I have in the third book taken all pains to demonstrate. It follows, then, as a matter of course, that these heretics aforementioned, since they are blind to the truth, and deviate from the [right] way, will walk in various roads; and therefore the footsteps of their doctrine are scattered here and there without agreement or connection. But the path of those belonging to the Church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition from the apostles, and gives unto us to see that the faith of all is one and the same, since all receive one and the same God the Father, and believe in the same dispensation regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, and are cognizant of the same gift of the Spirit, and are conversant with the same commandments, and preserve the same form of ecclesiastical constitution, and expect the same advent of the Lord, and await the same salvation of the complete man, that is, of the soul and body. And undoubtedly the preaching of the Church is true and stedfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to her is entrusted the light of God; and therefore the "wisdom" of God, by means of which she saves all men, "is declared in [its] going forth; it uttereth [its voice] faithfully in the streets, is preached on the tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the gates of the city." For the Church preaches the truth everywhere, and she is the seven-branched candlestick which bears the light of Christ.”

“Because the truth to the belief of which we are bound by faith, and which sacred Scripture principally treats, is not just any truth, but divine truth, either as it is in its own nature or as it is in the assumed nature — for in the knowledge of this truth consists both the reward of the fatherland and the merit of the way —: hence it is that the articles of faith, which are the foundations of faith, pertain either to the Divinity or to the humanity. And since the Divinity is to be considered in three persons, namely the Father begetting, the Son begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeding, and in a fourfold operation, namely creation in the being of nature, recreation in the being of grace, resurrection in the restoration of life, and glorification in the bestowal of glory: hence it is that the articles pertaining to the Divinity are seven. Similarly, because Christ's humanity is to be considered as conceived of the Holy Spirit, as born of the Virgin, as suffering on the cross, as descending into hell, as rising from the dead, as ascending into heaven, as coming to the final judgment; hence it is that there are seven articles of the humanity, and thus fourteen in all, after the manner of the seven stars and the seven golden lampstands, in the midst of which the Son of Man walked.”

“The stars placed in the right hand of God are the souls of the saints, or, what is the same thing, the entire congregation of the blessed who have been and who will be until the consummation of the world. In a similar way, we have said that the seven lampstands are the one true church that has been established during the seven-day period of this world, which is founded by faith in the Trinity and which is made strong by the sacrament of the heavenly mystery.”

“Since it was revealed to him who the "stars" are and what the "lampstands" represent, he then proceeds to instruct what each "of the churches" must bear witness to, and how to hold accountable the one that is fully straying from the divine purpose; while praising those that, at least in part, faithfully uphold the precision of the Gospel laws. And to correct those who have erred in other matters, Christ, "who desires all to be saved" (1 Tim. 2:4) and to become heirs of His own good things and partners, appointed the divine evangelist to send the appropriate word and teaching to each of the churches as a remedy; to Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”