“And I said, Woe is me, I am stunned, because though I am a man with unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, I have seen with my eyes the Lord of Sabaoth.” The vision astonished the prophet, it caused him suddenly to start, it threw him into great fear, it moved him to a confession, it disposed him to know the faintheartedness of his own being more clearly. All the saints are like this: the more they are honored, precisely then do they humble themselves the more. Thus also Abraham, when he spoke with God, called himself dirt and dust. And Paul, when he was honored by receiving that vision, called himself an abnormal birth. Therefore this prophet also declares his own meanness, first because of his nature, saying, “Woe is me, I am stunned, because I am a man,” and then because of the state of his soul, “And I have unclean lips.” I believe he called his lips impure in comparison with the fervent mouths of those pure powers and with the service they rendered with the utmost ...
