Augustine: DE CIVITATE DEI

[I] De die ultimi iudicii Dei quod ipse donauerit locuturi eumque adserturi aduersus impios et incredulos tamquam in aedificii fundamento prius ponere testimonia diuina debemus; quibus qui nolunt credere humanis ratiunculis falsis atque fallacibus contrauenire conantur, ad hoc ut aut aliud significare contendant quod adhibetur testimonium de litteris sacris, aut omnino diuinitus esse dictum negent. Nam nullum existimo esse mortalium, qui cum ea, sicut dicta sunt, intellexerit et a summo ac uero Deo per animas sanctas dicta esse crediderit, non eis cedat atque consentiat, siue id etiam ore fateatur siue aliquo uitio fateri erubescat aut metuat, uel etiam peruicacia simillima insaniae id, quod falsum esse nouit aut credit, etiam contentiosissime defendere moliatur.

[I] About the day of the last judgment of God, to speak as he himself shall have granted, and to assert it against the impious and the incredulous, we ought first, as on the foundation of a building, to place the divine testimonies; and those who are unwilling to believe these try to contravene them by human petty reasonings, false and fallacious, to this end: either that they contend the testimony brought from the sacred letters signifies something else, or that they altogether deny it to have been said divinely. For I think there is no mortal who, when he has understood these things as they were said and has believed that they were spoken by the Highest and True God through holy souls, does not yield and consent to them, whether he even confesses it with his mouth or through some fault is ashamed or afraid to confess, or even with a stubbornness very like insanity attempts most contentiously to defend that which he knows or believes to be false,

Quod ergo in confessione ac professione tenet omnis ecclesia Dei ueri Christum de caelo esse uenturum ad uiuos ac mortuos iudicandos, hunc diuini iudicii ultimum diem dicimus, id est nouissimum tempus. Nam per quot dies hoc iudicium tendatur, incertum est; sed scripturarum more sanctarum diem poni solere pro tempore nemo, qui illas litteras quamlibet neglegenter legerit, nescit. Ideo autem, cum diem iudicii Dei dicimus, addimus ultimum uel nouissimum, quia et nunc iudicat et ab humani generis initio iudicauit dimittens de paradiso et a ligno uitae separans primos homines peccati magni perpetratores; immo etiam quando angelis peccantibus non pepercit, quorum princeps homines a se ipso subuersus inuidendo subuertit, procul dubio iudicauit; nec sine illius alto iustoque iudicio et in hoc aerio caelo et in terris et daemonum et hominum miserrima est uita, erroribus aerumnisque plenissima.

Therefore, what the whole Church of the true God holds in confession and profession—that Christ is to come from heaven to judge the living and the dead—this we call the ultimate day of the divine judgment, that is, the very last time. For through how many days this judgment is extended is uncertain; but that, according to the custom of the holy Scriptures, “day” is wont to be set for “time,” no one who has read those letters, however negligently, does not know. And so, when we say the day of God’s judgment, we add “last” or “very last,” because even now he judges, and from the beginning of the human race he judged, dismissing from Paradise and separating from the tree of life the first humans, perpetrators of a great sin; nay even when he spared not the sinning angels—whose prince, cast down by envying, overthrew men by envying—without doubt he judged; and it is not without his deep and just judgment that, both in this airy heaven and on the earth, the life of demons and of humans is most miserable, most full of errors and hardships.

Verum etsi nemo peccasset, non sine bono rectoque iudicio uniuersam rationalem creaturam perseuerantissime sibi suo Domino cohaerentem in aeterna beatitudine retineret. Iudicat etiam non solum uniuersaliter de genere daemonum atque hominum, ut miseri sint propter primorum meritum peccatorum; sed etiam de singulorum operibus propriis, quae gerunt arbitrio uoluntatis. Nam et daemones ne torqueantur precantur, nec utique iniuste uel parcitur eis uel pro sua quique inprobitate torquentur; et homines plerumque aperte, semper occulte, luunt pro suis factis diuinitus poenas siue in hac uita siue post mortem: quamuis nullus hominum agat recte, nisi diuino adiuuetur auxilio; nullus daemonum aut hominum agat inique, nisi diuino eodemque iustissimo iudicio permittatur.

But even if no one had sinned, not without good and right judgment would he retain the whole rational creature, most perseveringly cohering to himself, its Lord, in eternal beatitude. He judges also not only universally concerning the race of demons and of men, that they be wretched on account of the desert of the first sins; but also concerning the proper works of individuals, which they carry out by the arbitration of the will. For even the demons pray that they may not be tormented, nor indeed is it unjust that either they are spared or each is tormented according to his own depravity; and men for the most part openly, always secretly, pay divine penalties for their deeds either in this life or after death: although none of mankind acts rightly unless he is helped by divine aid; no one of the demons or of men acts unjustly unless it is permitted by the same divine and most just judgment.

Sicut enim ait apostolus, non est iniquitas apud Deum; etiam sicut ipse alibi dicit, inscrutabilia sunt iudicia eius et inuestigabiles uiae eius. Non igitur in hoc libro de illis primis nec de istis mediis Dei iudiciis, sed de ipso nouissimo, quantum ipse tribuerit, disputabo, quando Christus de caelo uenturus est uiuos iudicaturus et mortuos. Iste quippe dies iudicii proprie iam uocatur, eo quod nullus ibi erit inperitae querellae locus, cur iniustus ille sit felix et cur ille iustus infelix.

For, as the apostle says, there is no iniquity with God; and as he himself says elsewhere, inscrutable are his judgments and uninvestigable his ways. Therefore I will not, in this book, dispute about those first nor about these middle judgments of God, but about the very last itself, as much as he shall grant—when Christ is to come from heaven to judge the living and the dead. For this day is now properly called the Day of Judgment, because there will be there no place for an ignorant complaint as to why that unjust man is fortunate and why that just man is unfortunate.

Omnium namque tunc nonnisi bonorum uera et plena felicitas et omnium nonnisi malorum digna et summa infelicitas apparebit.

For then there will appear, for all, nothing but the true and full felicity of the good, and nothing but the deserved and utmost infelicity of the wicked.

[II] Nunc autem et mala aequo animo ferre discimus, quae patiuntur et boni, et bona non magnipendere, quae adipiscuntur et mali; ac per hoc etiam in his rebus, in quibus non apparet diuina iustitia, salutaris est diuina doctrina. Nescimus enim quo iudicio Dei bonus ille sit pauper, malus ille sit diues; iste gaudeat, quem pro suis perditis moribus cruciari debuisse maeroribus arbitramur, contristetur ille, quem uita laudabilis gaudere debuisse persuadet; exeat de iudicio non solum inultus, uerum etiam damnatus innocens, aut iniquitate iudicis pressus aut falsis obrutus testimoniis, e contrario scelestus aduersarius eius non solum inpunitus, uerum etiam uindicatus insultet; impius optime ualeat, pius languore tabescat; latrocinentur sanissimi iuuenes, et qui nec uerbo quemquam laedere potuerunt, diuersa morborum atrocitate affligantur infantes; utilis rebus humanis inmatura morte rapiatur, et qui uidetur nec nasci debuisse, diutissime insuper uiuat; plenus criminibus sublimetur honoribus, et hominem sine querella tenebrae ignobilitatis abscondant, et cetera huius modi, quae quis colligit, quis enumerat? Quae si haberent in ipsa uelut absurditate constantiam, ut in hac uita, in qua homo, sicut sacer psalmus eloquitur, uanitati similis factus est et dies eius uelut umbra praetereunt, non nisi mali adipiscerentur transitoria bona ista atque terrena, nec nisi boni talia paterentur mala: posset hoc referri ad iudicium iustum Dei siue etiam benignum, ut, qui non erant adsecuturi bona aeterna, quae faciunt beatos, temporalibus uel deciperentur pro malitia sua uel pro Dei misericordia consolarentur bonis, et qui non erant passuri aeterna tormenta, temporalibus uel pro suis quibuscumque et quantiscumque peccatis affligerentur uel propter implendas uirtutes exercerentur malis.

[2] Now, however, we learn to bear evils with an even mind, which even the good suffer, and not to prize highly the goods which even the evil acquire; and through this, even in those matters in which the divine justice does not appear, the divine doctrine is salutary. For we do not know by what judgment of God that good man is poor, that bad man is rich; that this one rejoices whom we judge ought to have been racked by griefs for his lost morals, that that one is saddened whom a praiseworthy life persuades ought to rejoice; that an innocent man comes forth from the court not only unavenged, but even condemned, either pressed by the iniquity of the judge or overwhelmed by false testimonies, while conversely his wicked adversary not only goes unpunished, but even, as “vindicated,” vaunts himself; that the impious is in excellent health, the pious wastes away with languor; that the very sound youths practice brigandage, and infants who could not hurt anyone even with a word are afflicted by the diverse atrocity of diseases; that one useful to human affairs is snatched away by untimely death, and he who seems not to have ought even to have been born lives, moreover, very long; that a man full of crimes is exalted with honors, and the man without reproach the shadows of ignobility conceal, and the rest of such things—who gathers them, who enumerates them? If these had in their very, as it were, absurdity a constancy, so that in this life, in which man, as the sacred psalm declares, has been made like to vanity and his days pass by like a shadow, none but the evil would obtain these transitory and earthly goods, and none but the good would suffer such evils: this could be referred to the just, or even benign, judgment of God, to wit, that those who were not going to attain the eternal goods which make men blessed would either be deceived by temporal goods on account of their malice or be consoled by goods by reason of God’s mercy; and that those who were not going to suffer eternal torments would either be afflicted by temporal evils for their sins, of whatever kind and however great, or be exercised by evils for the sake of fulfilling virtues.

Nunc uero, quando non solum in malo sunt boni et in bono mali, quod uidetur iniustum, uerum etiam plerumque et malis mala eueniunt et bonis bona proueniunt: magis inscrutabilia fiunt iudicia Dei et inuestigabiles uiae eius. Quamuis ergo nesciamus quo iudicio Deus ista uel faciat uel fieri sinat, apud quem summa uirtus est, summa sapientia, summa iustitia, nulla infirmitas, nulla temeritas, nulla iniquitas: salubriter tamen discimus non magnipendere seu bona seu mala, quae uidemus esse bonis malisque communia, et illa bona quaerere, quae bonorum, atque illa mala maxime fugere, quae propria sunt malorum. Cum uero ad illud Dei iudicium uenerimus, cuius tempus iam proprie dies iudicii et aliquando dies Domini nuncupatur: non solum quaecumque tunc iudicabuntur, uerum etiam quaecumque ab initio iudicata et quaecumque usque ad illud tempus adhuc iudicanda sunt, apparebunt esse iustissima.

Now indeed, when not only are the good in an evil estate and the evil in a good estate, which seems unjust, but also for the most part evils befall the evil and goods come to the good: the judgments of God become more inscrutable and his ways uninvestigable. Although therefore we do not know by what judgment God either does these things or permits them to be done—with whom is highest virtue, highest wisdom, highest justice, no infirmity, no temerity, no iniquity—yet we healthfully learn not to prize highly either the goods or the evils which we see to be common to good and bad alike, and to seek those goods which belong to the good, and especially to flee those evils which are proper to the evil. But when we shall have come to that judgment of God, whose time is now properly called the day of judgment and sometimes the day of the Lord: not only whatever will then be judged, but also whatever from the beginning has been judged and whatever up to that time are still to be judged, will appear to be most just.

Vbi hoc quoque manifestabitur, quam iusto iudicio Dei fiat, ut nunc tam multa ac paene omnia iusta iudicia Dei lateant sensus mentesque mortalium, cum tamen in hac re piorum fidem non lateat, iustum esse quod latet.

Where this also will be made manifest: how by the just judgment of God it comes to pass that now so many, and almost all, of the just judgments of God lie hidden from the senses and minds of mortals, while yet in this matter the faith of the pious does not lie hidden, namely, that what is hidden is just.

[III] Nempe Salomon, sapientissimus rex Israel, qui regnauit in Hierusalem, librum, qui uocatur ecclesiastes et a Iudaeis quoque habetur in sacrarum canone litterarum, sic exorsus est: Vanitas uanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes; uanitas uanitantium, omnia uanitas. Quae abundantia homini in omni labore suo, quo laborat sub sole? Et cum ex hac sententia conecteret cetera, commemorans aerumnas erroresque uitae huius et uanescentes interea temporum lapsus, ubi nihil solidum, nihil stabile retinetur: in ea rerum uanitate sub sole illud etiam deplorat quodam modo, quod, cum sit abundantia sapientiae super insipientiam, sicut abundantia lucis super tenebras, sapientisque oculi sint in capite ipsius et stultus in tenebris ambulet, unus tamen incursus incurrat omnibus, utique in hac uita quae sub sole agitur, significans uidelicet ea mala, quae bonis et malis uidemus esse communia.

[3] Indeed Solomon, the most sapient king of Israel, who reigned in Jerusalem, began thus the book which is called Ecclesiastes and is held by the Jews also in the canon of sacred letters: Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What abundance has man in all his labor wherein he labors under the sun? And when from this sententia he knit together the rest, recounting the hardships and errors of this life and, meanwhile, the lapses of times evanescing, where nothing solid, nothing stable is retained: in that vanity of things under the sun he laments also, in a certain way, this—that although there be an abundance of wisdom over insipience, as the abundance of light over darkness, and the wise man’s eyes be in his head while the fool walks in darkness, yet one and the same onset befalls all, to wit, in this life which is lived under the sun; signifying, namely, those evils which we see to be common to the good and to the bad.

Dicit etiam illud, quod et boni patiantur mala, tamquam mali sint, et mali, tamquam boni sint, adipiscantur bona, ita loquens: Est, inquit, uanitas, quae facta est super terram, quia sunt iusti, super quos uenit sicut factum impiorum, et sunt impii, super quos uenit sicut factum iustorum. Dixi quoniam hoc quoque uanitas. In hac uanitate, cui quantum satis uisum est intimandae totum istum librum uir sapientissimus deputauit (non utique ob aliud, nisi ut eam uitam desideremus, quae uanitatem non habet sub hoc sole, sed ueritatem sub illo qui fecit hunc solem), — in hac ergo uanitate numquid nisi iusto Dei rectoque iudicio similis eidem uanitati factus uanesceret homo?

He also says this, that both the good suffer evils as though they were evil, and the evil, as though they were good, obtain goods, speaking thus: “There is,” he says, “a vanity that has been done upon the earth, because there are just men upon whom it comes as the deed of the impious, and there are impious men upon whom it comes as the deed of the just. I said that this too is vanity.” In this vanity, to the intimating of which, so far as seemed sufficient, the most wise man assigned this whole book (assuredly for no other reason, except that we might desire that life which has not vanity under this sun, but truth under Him who made this sun), — in this vanity, therefore, would man have become like to that same vanity and have vanished, except by the just and right judgment of God?

In diebus tamen uanitatis suae interest plurimum, utrum resistat an obtemperet ueritati, et utrum sit expers uerae pietatis an particeps; non propter uitae huius uel bona adquirenda uel mala uitanda uanescendo transeuntia, sed propter futurum iudicium, per quod erunt et bonis bona et malis mala sine fine mansura. Denique iste sapiens hunc librum sic conclusit, ut diceret: Deum time et mandata eius custodi, quia hoc est omnis homo; quia omne hoc opus Deus adducet in iudicium in omni despecto, siue bonum siue malum. Quid breuius, uerius, salubrius dici potuit?

Yet in the days of his vanity it matters very much whether he resists or obeys the truth, and whether he is devoid of true piety or a participant; not on account of this life’s goods to be acquired or evils to be avoided, things passing away in vanishing, but on account of the future judgment, through which there will be for the good good things and for the evil evil things, abiding without end. Finally, this wise man concluded this book thus, so as to say: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is every man; for God will bring every work into judgment in all that is despised, whether good or evil. What could have been said more briefly, more truly, more salubriously?

Deum, inquit, time et mandata eius custodi, quia hoc est omnis homo. Quicumque enim est, hoc est, custos utique mandatorum Dei; quoniam qui hoc non est, nihil est; non enim ad ueritatis imaginem reformatur, remanens in similitudine uanitatis. Quia omne hoc opus, id est, quod ab homine fit in hac uita, siue bonum siue malum, Deus adducet in iudicium in omni despecto, id est in omni etiam qui contemptibilis hic uidetur et ideo nec uidetur; quoniam Deus et ipsum uidet nec eum despicit nec cum iudicat praeterit.

“Fear God,” he says, “and keep his mandates, because this is the whole man.” For whoever is, that is, is of course a keeper of the mandates of God; because he who is not this is nothing; for he is not reformed to the image of truth, remaining in the likeness of vanity. Because every work—namely, what is done by man in this life, whether good or evil—God will bring into judgment in every despised one, that is, in everyone even who here seems contemptible and therefore is not even seen; since God also sees him and neither despises him nor passes him by when he judges.

[IV] Huius itaque ultimi iudicii Dei testimonia de scripturis sanctis, quae ponere institui, prius eligenda sunt de libris instrumenti noui, postea de ueteris. Quamuis enim uetera priora sint tempore, noua tamen anteponenda sunt dignitate, quoniam illa uetera praeconia sunt nouorum. Noua igitur ponentur prius, quae ut firmius probemus, adsumentur et uetera.

[4] Therefore the testimonies of God’s last judgment from the holy Scriptures, which I have undertaken to set forth, must first be selected from the books of the New Testament, afterward from the Old. For although the old are prior in time, yet the new must be preferred in dignity, since those old are proclamations of the new. Therefore the new will be set forth first; and that we may prove them more firmly, the old will also be taken up.

In ueteribus habentur lex et prophetae, in nouis euangelium et apostolicae litterae. Ait autem apostolus: Per legem enim cognitio peccati. Nunc autem sine lege iustitia Dei manifestata est, testificata per legem et prophetas; iustitia autem Dei per fidem Iesu Christi in omnes qui credunt.

In the Old are contained the Law and the Prophets, in the New the Gospel and the apostolic letters. But the Apostle says: For through the Law there is the knowledge of sin. Now, however, apart from the Law the justice of God has been manifested, testified to by the Law and the Prophets; and the justice of God is through faith in Jesus Christ unto all who believe.

Haec iustitia Dei ad nouum pertinet testamentum et testimonium habet a ueteribus libris, hoc est lege ac prophetis. Prius igitur ipsa causa ponenda est, et postea testes introducendi. Hunc et ipse Christus Iesus ordinem seruandum esse demonstrans: Scriba, inquit, eruditus in regno Dei similis est uiro patri familias proferenti de thesauro suo noua et uetera.

This justice of God pertains to the New Testament and has testimony from the ancient books, that is, the Law and the Prophets. Therefore first the very cause must be set forth, and afterwards the witnesses introduced. Christ Jesus himself also, demonstrating that this order is to be observed: “A scribe,” he says, “learned in the kingdom of God is like a man, a householder, bringing forth from his treasury new things and old.”

Non dixit: "Vetera et noua", quod utique dixisset, nisi maluisset meritorum ordinem seruare quam temporum.

He did not say: "the old and the new," which he would assuredly have said, unless he had preferred to preserve the order of merits rather than of times.

[V] Ergo ipse Saluator cum obiurgaret ciuitates, in quibus uirtutes magnas fecerat neque crediderant, et eis alienigenas anteponeret: Verum tamen, inquit, dico uobis, Tyro et Sidoni remissius erit in die iudicii quam uobis; et paulo post alteri ciuitati: Amen, inquit, dico uobis, quia terrae Sodomorum remissius erit in die iudicii quam tibi (hic euidentissime praedicat diem iudicii esse uenturum); et alio loco: Viri Nineuitae, inquit, surgent in iudicio cum generatione ista et condemnabunt eam; quia paenitentiam egerunt in praedicatione Ionae, et ecce plus quam Iona hic. Regina Austri surget in iudicio cum generatione ista et condemnabit eam; quia uenit a finibus terrae audire sapientiam Salomonis, et ecce plus quam Salomon hic. Duas res hoc loco discimus, et uenturum esse iudicium et cum mortuorum resurrectione uenturum.

[V] Therefore the Savior himself, when he was reproaching the cities in which he had done great mighty works and they had not believed, and was preferring foreigners before them: “Truly, nevertheless,” he says, “I say to you, Tyre and Sidon will be more tolerable on the day of judgment than you;” and a little later to another city: “Amen,” he says, “I say to you, that for the land of Sodom it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment than for you” (here he most manifestly proclaims that the day of judgment is going to come); and elsewhere: “The men of Nineveh,” he says, “will rise in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” We learn two things in this place: both that the judgment is going to come and that it will come with the resurrection of the dead.

De Nineuitis enim et regina Austri quando ista dicebat, de mortuis sine dubio loquebatur, quos tamen in die iudicii surrectoros esse praedixit. Nec ideo dixit "condemnabant", quia ipsi iudicabunt; sed quia ex ipsorum comparatione isti merito damnabuntur.

For concerning the Ninevites and the Queen of the South, when he was saying these things, he was without doubt speaking about the dead, whom nevertheless he foretold would rise on the day of judgment. Nor did he therefore say “they will condemn,” because they themselves will judge; but because by comparison with them these people will deservedly be condemned.

Rursus alio loco, cum de hominum bonorum et malorum nunc permixtione, postea separatione, quae utique die iudicii futura est, loqueretur, adhibuit similitudinem de tritico seminato et superseminatis zizaniis, eamque suis exponens discipulis: Qui seminat, inquit, bonum semen, est filius hominis; ager autem est mundus; bonum uero semen hi sunt filii regno; zizania autem filii sunt nequam; inimicus autem, qui seminauit ea, est diabolus; messis uero consummatio saeculi est, messores autem angeli sunt. Sicut ergo colliguntur zizania et igni comburuntur; sic erit in consummatione saeculi. Mittet filius hominis angelos suos, et colligunt de regno eius omnia scandala et eos, qui faciunt iniquitatem, et mittunt eos in caminum ignis; ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium.

Again, in another place, when he was speaking about the present commixture of good and bad men, and afterward the separation which assuredly is to be on the day of judgment, he employed a similitude of the sown wheat and the oversown zizania (tares), and, expounding it to his disciples: “He who sows the good seed,” he says, “is the Son of Man; but the field is the world; but the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom; but the tares are the sons of the wicked; however, the enemy who sowed them is the devil; but the harvest is the consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels. Therefore, just as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so shall it be at the consummation of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all scandals and those who do iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Tunc iusti fulgebunt sicut sol in regno patris eorum. Qui habet aures, audiat. Hic iudicium quidem uel diem iudicii non nominauit, sed eum multo clarius ipsis rebus expressit et in fine saeculi futurum esse praedixit.

Then the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. Here he did not name “the judgment” or “the day of judgment,” but he expressed it much more clearly by the very facts, and foretold that it will be at the end of the age.

Item discipulis suis: Amen, inquit, dico uobis, quod uos, qui secuti estis me, in regeneratione, cum sederit filius hominis in sede maiestatis suae. sedebitis et uos super sedes duodecim iudicantes duodecim tribus Israel. Hic discimus cum suis discipulis iudicaturum Iesum.

Likewise to his disciples: Amen, he said, I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the seat of his majesty. you also will sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Here we learn that Jesus will judge together with his disciples.

Vnde et alibi Iudaeis dixit: Si ego in Beelzebub eicio daemonia, filii uestri in quo eiciunt? Ideo ipsi iudices erunt uestri. Nec quoniam super duodecim sedes sessuros esse ait, duodecim solos homines cum illo iudicaturos putare debemus.

Whence also elsewhere he said to the Jews: If I cast out demons in Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they themselves will be your judges. Nor, because he says that they will sit upon twelve seats, ought we to think that only twelve men will judge with him.

Duodenario quippe numero uniuersa quaedam significata est iudicantium multitudo propter duas partes numeri septenarii, quo significatur plerumque uniuersitas; quae duae partes, id est tria et quattuor, altera per alteram multiplicatae duodecim faciunt, nam et quattuor ter et tria quater duodecim sunt, et si qua alia huius duodenarii numeri, quae ad hoc ualeat, ratio reperitur. Alioquin, quoniam in locum Iudae traditoris apostolum Matthiam legimus ordinatum, apostolus Paulus, qui plus omnibus illis laborauit, ubi ad iudicandum sedeat non habebit; qui profecto cum aliis sanctis ad numerum iudicum se pertinere demonstrat, cum dicit: Nescitis quia angelos iudicabimus? De ipsis quoque iudicandis in hoc numero duodenario similis causa est.

Indeed, by the duodenary number a certain universal multitude of judges is signified, on account of the two parts of the septenary number, by which the universality is for the most part signified; which two parts, that is, three and four, multiplied one by the other make 12—for both four thrice and three four times are 12—and if any other rationale of this duodenary number is found which may avail for this purpose. Otherwise, since in the place of Judas the traitor we read that the apostle Matthias was ordained, the apostle Paul, who labored more than all of them, would have no seat on which to sit for judging; who indeed shows that he belongs with the other saints to the number of judges, when he says: Do you not know that we shall judge angels? Concerning those themselves who are to be judged, in this duodenary number the case is likewise.

Non enim quia dictum est: Iudicantes duodecim tribus Israel, tribus Leui, quae tertia decima est, ab eis iudicanda non erit, aut solum illum populum, non etiam gentes ceteras iudicabunt. Quod autem ait: In regeneratione, procul dubio mortuorum resurrectionem nomine uoluit regenerationis intellegi. Sic enim caro nostra regenerabitur per incorruptionem, quem ad modum est anima nostra regenerata per fidem.

For not because it was said: Judging the twelve tribes of Israel, will the tribe of Levi, which is the thirteenth, not be judged by them, or will they judge only that people, and not also the other nations. But as to his saying: In the regeneration, without doubt he wished the resurrection of the dead to be understood by the name “regeneration.” For thus our flesh will be regenerated through incorruption, just as our soul has been regenerated through faith.

Multa praetereo, quae de ultimo iudicio ita dici uidentur, ut diligenter considerata reperiantur ambigua uel magis ad aliud pertinentia, siue scilicet ad eum Saluatoris aduentum, quo per totum hoc tempus in ecclesia sua uenit, hoc est in membris suis, particulatim atque paulatim, quoniam tota corpus est eius; siue ad excidium terrenae Hierusalem; quia et de illo cum loquitur, plerumque sic loquitur, tamquam de fine saeculi atque illo die iudicii nouissimo et magno loquatur; ita ut dinosci non possit omnino, nisi ea, quae apud tres euangelistas Matthaeum, Marcum et Lucam de hac re similiter dicta sunt, inter se omnia conferantur. Quaedam quippe alter obscurius, alter explicat planius, ut ea, quae ad unam rem pertinentia dicuntur, appareat unde dicantur. Quod facere utcumque curaui in quadam epistula, quam rescripsi ad beatae memoriae uirum Hesychium, Salonitanae urbis episcopum, cuius epistulae titulus est: De fine saeculi.

I pass over many things which about the ultimate judgment seem to be so said that, when carefully considered, they are found ambiguous or rather pertinent to something else—whether, namely, to that Advent of the Savior by which throughout this whole time he comes in his Church, that is, in his members, bit by bit and little by little, since the whole is his body; or to the destruction of earthly Jerusalem; because even when he speaks of that, he very often speaks thus as though he were speaking of the end of the age and that last and great day of judgment—so that it cannot at all be discerned, unless those things which by the three Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke have been similarly said about this matter be all compared among themselves. For indeed the one says certain things more obscurely, the other explains them more plainly, so that, in the case of statements said as pertaining to one matter, it may appear whence they are said. Which I have in some fashion taken care to do in a certain epistle, which I wrote back to the man of blessed memory Hesychius, bishop of the city of Salona, whose epistle’s title is: On the end of the age.

Proinde iam illud hic dicam, quod in euangelio secundum Matthaeum de separatione bonorum et malorum legitur per iudicium praesentissimum atque nouissimum Christi. Cum autem uenierit, inquit, filius hominis in maiestate sua, et omnes angeli cum eo, tunc sedebit super sedem maiestatis suae, et congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes, et separabit eos ab inuicem, sicut pastor segregat oues ab haedis, et statuet oues quidem a dextris suis, haedos autem a sinistris. Tunc dicet rex his, qui a dextris eius erunt: Venite, benedicti patris mei, possidete paratum uobis regnum a constitutione mundo.

Accordingly, now I will say this here, which in the Gospel according to Matthew is read concerning the separation of the good and the evil by the most immediate and the most final judgment of Christ. “But when,” he says, “the Son of Man shall have come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon the throne of his majesty, and before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them from one another, as a shepherd segregates sheep from kids, and he will set the sheep indeed at his right hand, but the kids at his left. Then the King will say to those who will be at his right: Come, you blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the constitution (foundation) of the world.”

Esuriui enim, et dedistis mihi manducare; sitiui, et dedistis mihi bibere; hospes eram, et collegistis me; nudus, et operuistis me; <infirmus, et uisitastis me;> in carcere eram, et uenistis ad me. Tunc respondebunt ei iusti dicentes : Domine, quando te uidimus esurientem, et pauimus; sitientem, et dedimus potum? Quando autem te uidimus hospitem, et collegimus te; aut nudum, et cooperuimus te? Aut quando te uidimus infirmum aut in carcere, et uenimus ad te? Et respondens rex dicet illis; Amen dico uobis, quamdiu fecistis uni de his fratribus meis minimis, mihi fecistis. Tunc dicet, inquit, et his qui a sinistris erunt: Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est zabulo et angelis eius.

For I hungered, and you gave me to eat; I thirsted, and you gave me to drink; I was a guest, and you gathered me in; naked, and you covered me; <infirm, and you visited me;> I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the just will answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungering, and we fed; thirsting, and we gave drink? And when did we see you a guest, and we gathered you in; or naked, and we covered you? Or when did we see you infirm or in prison, and we came to you? And the king, answering, will say to them: Amen I say to you, insofar as you did it to one of these my least brothers, you did it to me. Then, he says, he will also say to those who will be on the left: Depart from me, accursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels.

Deinde similiter etiam his enumerat, quod illa non fecerint, quae dextros fecisse memorauit. Similiterque interrogantibus, quando eum uiderint in horum indigentia constitutum: quod minimis suis non factum est, sibi factum non fuisse respondet; sermonemque concludens: Et ibunt, inquit, hi in supplicium aeternum, iusti autem in uitam aeternam. Iohannes uero euangelista apertissime narrat eum in resurrectione mortuorum futurum praedixisse iudicium.

Then likewise he enumerates also to these that they did not do the things which he recounted the right-hand to have done. And when they similarly ask when they had seen him placed in such indigence: he replies that what was not done to his least ones was not done to himself; and concluding the discourse: “And these,” he says, “will go into eternal punishment, but the just into eternal life.” But John the Evangelist most openly relates that he foretold the judgment would be at the resurrection of the dead.

Cum enim dixisset: Neque enim Pater iudicat quemquam, sed iudicium omne dedit Filio, ut omnes honorificent Filium, sicut honorificant Patrem; qui non honorificat Filium, non honorificat Patrem, qui misit illum; protinus addidit: Amen, amen dico uobis, quia, qui uerbum meum audit et credit ei qui misit me, habet uitam aeternam, et in iudicium non uenit, sed transiit a morte in uitam. Ecce hic dixit fideles suos in iudicium non uenire. Quo modo ergo per iudicium separabuntur a malis et ad eius dexteram stabunt, nisi quia hoc loco iudicium pro damnatione posuit?

For when he had said: For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father; he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him; straightway he added: Amen, amen I say to you, that he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Behold, here he said that his faithful do not come into judgment. How then will they through judgment be separated from the evil and stand at his right hand, unless because in this place he put “judgment” for “condemnation”?

In tale quippe iudicium non uenient, qui audiunt uerbum eius et credunt ei, qui misit illum.

For into such a judgment they will not come, who hear his word and believe him who sent him.

[VI] Deinde adiungit et dicit: Amen, amen dico uobis, quia uenit hora et nunc est, quando mortui audient uocem filii Dei, et qui audierint uiuent. Sicut enim Pater habet uitam in semet ipso, sic dedit et Filio habere uitam in semet ipso. Nondum de secunda resurrectione, id est corporum, loquitur, quae in fine futura est, sed de prima, quae nunc est.

[6] Then he adds and says: Amen, amen I say to you, that the hour comes and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who have heard will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has given also to the Son to have life in himself. He is not yet speaking about the second resurrection, that is, of bodies, which will be at the end, but about the first, which is now.

Hanc quippe ut distingueret, ait: Venit hora, et nunc est. Non autem ista corporum, sed animarum est. Habent enim et animae mortem suam in impietate atque peccatis, secundum quam mortem mortui sunt, de quibus idem Dominus ait: Sine mortui mortuos suos sepeliant; ut scilicet in anima mortui in corpore mortuos sepelirent.

This, indeed, that he might distinguish it, he said: “An hour comes, and now is.” But this is not of bodies, but of souls. For souls too have their death in impiety and sins, according to which death they are dead, of whom the same Lord said: “Let the dead bury their dead”; namely, that the dead in soul might bury the dead in body.

Propter istos ergo impietate et iniquitate in anima mortuos: Venit, inquit, hora, et nunc est, quando mortui audient uocem filii Dei; et qui audierint, uiuent. Qui audierint dixit "qui oboedierint, qui crediderint et usque in finem perseuerauerint". Nec fecit hic ullam differentiam bonorum et malorum. Omnibus enim bonum.est audire uocem eius et uiuere ad uitam pietatis ex impietatis morte transeundo.

On account of those, therefore, who are dead in soul through impiety and iniquity: “The hour comes,” he says, “and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have heard will live.” By “those who have heard” he said “those who have obeyed, who have believed, and who have persevered unto the end.” Nor did he make here any difference between the good and the bad. For it is good for all to hear his voice and to live unto the life of piety by passing over from the death of impiety.

De qua morte ait apostolus Paulus: Ergo omnes mortui sunt, et pro omnibus mortuus est, ut qui uiuunt iam non sibi uiuant, sed ei, qui pro ipsis mortuus est et resurrexit. Omnes itaque mortui sunt in peccatis, nemine prorsus excepto, siue originalibus siue etiam uoluntate additis, uel ignorando uel sciendo nec faciendo quod iustum est; et pro omnibus mortuis uiuus mortuus est unus, id est nullum habens omnino peccatum; ut, qui per remissionem peccatorum uiuunt, iam non sibi uiuant, sed ei, qui pro omnibus mortuus est propter peccata nostra et resurrexit propter iustificationem nostram, ut credentes in eum, qui iustificat impium, ex impietate iustificati, tamquam ex morte uiuificati, ad primam resurrectionem, quae nunc est; pertinere possemus. Ad hanc enim primam non pertinent, nisi qui beati erunt in aeternum; ad secundam uero, de qua mox locuturus est, et beatos pertinere docebit et miseros.

Of which death the apostle Paul says: Therefore all have died, and he died for all, that those who live may now live no longer for themselves, but for him who for them died and rose again. All therefore are dead in sins, absolutely no one excepted, whether in original (sins) or also those added by will, either by not knowing or by knowing and not doing what is just; and for all the dead one living One died, that is, having no sin at all; so that those who live by the remission of sins may now live not for themselves, but for him who for all died on account of our sins and rose on account of our justification, that we, believing in him who justifies the impious, justified out of impiety, as though vivified out of death, to the first resurrection, which now is; might be able to pertain. For to this first there pertain only those who will be blessed forever; but to the second, of which he is soon to speak, he will teach that both the blessed and the wretched pertain.

Ista est misericordiae, illa iudicii. Propter quod in psalmo scriptum est: Misericordiam et iudicium cantabo tibi, Domine.

This is of mercy, that of judgment. For which reason in the Psalm it is written: "Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord."

De quo iudicio consequenter adiunxit atque ait: Et potestatem dedit ei iudicium facere, quia filius hominis est. Hic ostendit, quod in ea carne ueniet iudicaturus, in qua uenerat iudicandus. Ad hoc enim ait: Quoniam filius hominis est.

Concerning which judgment he consequently added and said: “And he gave him the authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” Here he shows that he will come as judge in that flesh in which he had come to be judged. For to this end he says: “Because he is the Son of Man.”

Ac deinde subiungens unde agimus: Nolite, inquit, mirari hoc, quia ueniet hora, in qua omnes, quo in monumentis sunt, audient uocem eius et procedent, qui bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem uitae; qui uero mala egerunt, in resurrectionem iudicii. Hoc est illud iudicium, quod paulo ante, sicut nunc, pro damnatione posuerat dicens: Qui uerbum meum audit et credit ei qui misit me, habet uitam aeternam et in iudicium non uenit, sed transiit a morte in uitam, id est, pertinendo ad primam resurrectionem, qua nunc transitur a morte ad uitam, in damnationem non ueniet, quam significauit appellatione iudicii, sicut etiam hoc loco, ubi ait: Qui mala egerunt, in resurrectionem iudicii, id est damnationis. Resurgat ergo in prima, qui non uult in secunda resurrectione damnari.

And then, subjoining what we are dealing with: Do not, he says, marvel at this, because the hour will come in which all who are in the monuments will hear his voice and will go forth—those who have done good, into the resurrection of life; but those who have wrought evil, into the resurrection of judgment. This is that judgment which a little before, just as now, he had set for damnation, saying: He who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life, that is, by pertaining to the first resurrection, by which one now passes from death to life, he will not come into damnation, which he signified by the appellation “judgment,” as also in this place, where he says: Those who have done evil, into the resurrection of judgment, that is, of damnation. Let him therefore rise again in the first, who does not wish to be condemned in the second resurrection.

Venit enim hora, et nunc est, quando mortui audient uocem filii Dei, et qui audierint, uiuent, id est, in damnationem non uenient, quae secunda mors dicitur; in quam mortem post secundam, quae corporum futura est, resurrectionem praecipitabuntur, qui in prima, quae animarum est, non resurgunt. Veniet enim hora (ubi non ait: Et nunc est, quia in fine erit saeculi, hoc est in ultimo et maximo iudicio Dei), quando omnes, qui in monumentis sunt, audient uocem eius et procedent. Non dixit quem ad modum in prima: Et qui audierint, uiuent.

For an hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who shall have heard will live, that is, they will not come into damnation, which is called the second death; into which death, after the second resurrection, which will be of bodies, they will be precipitated who do not rise in the first, which is of souls. For an hour will come (where he does not say: “And now is,” because it will be at the end of the age, that is, in the last and greatest Judgment of God), when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth. He did not say, as in the former: “And those who shall have heard will live.”

Non enim omnes uiuent, ea uita scilicet, quae, quoniam beata est, sola uita dicenda est. Nam utique non sine qualicumque uita possent audire et de monumentis resurgente carne procedere. Quare autem non omnes uiuent, in eo quod sequitur docet; qui bona, inquit, fecerunt, in resurrectionem uitae, hi sunt, qui uiuent; qui uero mala egerunt, in resurrectionem iudicii, hi sunt qui non uiuent, quia secunda morte morientur.

For not all will live, namely with that life which, since it is blessed, is to be called the only life. For surely they could not hear and, with the flesh rising again, come forth from the monuments without some sort of life. But why not all will live, he teaches in what follows: “those who have done good, to the resurrection of life”—these are the ones who will live; “but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment”—these are the ones who will not live, because they will die the second death.

Mala quippe egerunt, quoniam male uixerunt; male autem uixerunt, quia in prima, quae nunc est, animarum resurrectione non reuixerunt aut in eo, quod reuixerant, non in finem usque manserunt. Sicut ergo duae sunt regenerationes, de quibus iam supra locutus sum, una secundum fidem, quae nunc fit per baptismum; alia secundum carnem, quae fiet in eius incorruptione atque inmortalitate per iudicium magnum atque nouissimum: ita sunt et resurrectiones duae, una prima<, quae> et nunc est et animarum est, quae uenire non permittit in mortem secundam; alia secunda, quae non nunc, sed in saeculi fine futura est, nec animarum, sed corporum est, quae per ultimum iudicium alios mittit in secundam mortem, alios in eam uitam, quae non habet mortem.

They indeed did evil, since they lived badly; but they lived badly because in the first resurrection of souls, which is now, they did not come back to life, or, in that wherein they had come back to life, they did not remain all the way to the end. Therefore, just as there are two regenerations, of which I have already spoken above—one according to faith, which now is done through baptism; the other according to the flesh, which will be done in its incorruption and immortality through the great and most final judgment—so too there are two resurrections: one first<, which> both is now and is of souls, which does not permit to come into the second death; another second, which is not now, but will be at the end of the age, and is not of souls but of bodies, which through the last judgment sends some into the second death, others into that life which has no death.

[VII] De his duabus resurrectionibus idem Iohannes euangelista in libro, qui dicitur apocalypsis, eo modo locutus est, ut earum prima a quibusdam nostris non intellecta insuper etiam in quasdam ridiculas fabulas uerteretur. Ait quippe in libro memorato Iohannes apostolus: Et uidi angelum descendentem de caelo, habentem clauem abyssi et catenam in manu sua. Et tenuit draconem illum serpentem antiquum, qui cognominatus est diabolus et satanas, alligauit illum mille annis et misit illum in abyssum; et clusit et signauit super eum, ut non seduceret iam gentes, donec finiantur mille anni, post haec oportet eum solui breui tempore.

[7] Concerning these two resurrections the same John the evangelist, in the book which is called Apocalypse, spoke in such a manner that the first of them, not understood by certain of our own, was moreover turned into some ridiculous fables. For indeed in the aforesaid book the apostle John says: And I saw an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a chain in his hand. And he seized that dragon, the ancient serpent, who is surnamed the devil and Satan, bound him for a thousand years and sent him into the abyss; and he shut and sealed over him, so that he might no longer seduce the nations, until the thousand years are finished; after these things it is necessary that he be loosed for a short time.

Et uidi sedes et sedentes super eas, et iudicium datum est. Et animae occisorum propter testimonium Iesu et propter uerbum Dei, et si qui non adorauerunt bestiam nec imaginem eius, neque acceperunt inscriptionem in fronte aut in manu sua, et regnauerunt cum Iesu mille annis; reliqui eorum non uixerunt, donec finiantur mille anni. Haec resurrectio prima est.

And I saw thrones and those sitting upon them, and judgment was given. And the souls of those slain on account of the testimony of Jesus and on account of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast nor its image, nor received the inscription on the forehead or on the hand; and they reigned with Jesus for a thousand years; the rest of them did not live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Beatus et sanctus est, qui habet in hac prima resurrectione partem. In istis secunda mors non habet potestatem; sed erunt sacerdotes Dei et Christi et regnabunt cum eo mille annis. Qui propter haec huius libri uerba primam resurrectionem futuram suspicati sunt corporalem, inter cetera maxime numero annorum mille permoti sunt, tamquam oporteret in sanctis eo modo uelut tanti temporis fieri sabbatismum, uacatione scilicet sancta post labores annorum sex milium, ex quo creatus est homo et magni illius peccati merito in huius mortalitatis aerumnas de paradisi felicitate dimissus est, ut, quoniam scriptum est: Vnus dies apud Dominum sicut mille anni, et mille anni sicut dies unus, sex annorum milibus tamquam sex diebus impletis, sequatur uelut septimus sabbati in annis mille postremis, ad hoc scilicet sabbatum celebrandum resurgentibus sanctis.

Blessed and holy is he who has a part in this first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power; but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. Those who, on account of these words of this book, suspected that the first resurrection would be corporeal were moved especially, among other things, by the number of a thousand years, as though it were necessary that in the saints there should thus take place, as it were, a sabbatism of so great a span of time, namely a holy vacation after the labors of six thousand years, from when man was created and, by the desert of that great sin, was dismissed from the felicity of paradise into the hardships of this mortality; so that, since it is written: One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, when six thousands of years, as it were six days, have been completed, there should follow, as it were, the seventh, the sabbath, in the last thousand years, for this sabbath to be celebrated by the saints as they rise again.

Quae opinio esset utcumque tolerabilis, si aliquae deliciae spiritales in illo sabbato adfuturae sanctis per Domini praesentiam crederentur. Nam etiam nos hoc opinati fuimus aliquando. Sed cum eos, qui tunc resurrexerint, dicant inmoderatissimis carnalibus epulis uacaturos, in quibus cibus sit tantus ac potus, ut non solum nullam modestiam teneant, sed modum quoque ipsius credulitatis excedant: nullo modo ista possunt nisi a carnalibus credi.

Which opinion would be tolerable in some fashion, if certain spiritual delights were believed to be going to be present to the saints in that sabbath through the presence of the Lord. For we too once held this opinion. But when they say that those who shall then have risen will spend their leisure in most immoderate carnal banquets, in which the food and the drink are so abundant that they not only keep no modesty, but even exceed the measure of credulity itself: in no way can these things be believed except by carnal people.

Hi autem qui spiritales sunt, istos ista credentes *xiliasta\s appellant Graeco uocabulo; quos uerbum e uerbo exprimentes nos possemus miliarios nuncupare. Eos autem longum est refellere ad singula; sed potius, quem ad modum scriptura haec accipienda sit, iam debemus ostendere.

But those who are spiritual call these people, who believe such things, *chiliasts* by a Greek vocable; which, expressing word from word, we could call millenaries. But it is lengthy to refute them point by point; rather, we ought now to show in what manner this scripture is to be received.

Ait ipse Dominus Iesus Christus: Nemo potest introire in domum fortis et uasa eius eripere, nisi prius alligauerit fortem, diabolum uolens intellegi fortem, quia ipse genus humanum potuit tenere captiuum; uasa uero eius, quae fuerat erepturus, fideles suos futuros, quos ille in diuersis peccatis atque impietatibus possidebat. Vt ergo alligaretur hic fortis, propterea uidit iste apostolus in apocalypsi angelum descendentem de caelo, habentem clauem abyssi et catenam in manu sua. Et tenuit, inquit, draconem illum serpentem antiquum, qui cognominatus est diabolus et satanas, et alligauit illum mille annis, hoc est, eius potestatem ab eis seducendis ac possidendis, qui fuerant liberandi, cohibuit atque frenauit.

The Lord Jesus Christ himself says: No one can enter the house of the strong man and seize his vessels, unless he first binds the strong man, meaning the devil to be understood as the strong man, because he could hold the human race captive; but his vessels—those he was about to snatch away—to be his own future faithful, whom that one possessed in various sins and impieties. Therefore, that this strong man might be bound, for that reason this apostle saw in the Apocalypse an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a chain in his hand. And he seized, he says, that dragon, the ancient serpent, who is surnamed the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand years, that is, he restrained and curbed his power from seducing and possessing those who were to be freed.

Mille autem anni duobus modis possunt, quantum mihi occurrit, intellegi: aut quia in ultimis annis mille ista res agitur, id est sexto annorum miliario tamquam sexto die, cuius nunc spatia posteriora uoluuntur, secuturo deinde sabbato, quod non habet uesperam, requie scilicet sanctorum, quae non habet finem, ut huius miliarii tamquam diei nouissimam partem, quae remanebat usque ad terminum saeculi, mille annos appellauerit eo loquendi modo, quo pars significatur a toto; aut certe mille annos pro annis omnibus huius saeculi posuit, ut perfecto numero notaretur ipsa temporis plenitudo. Millenarius quippe numerus denarii numeri quadratum solidum reddit. Decem quippe deciens ducta fiunt centum, quae iam figura quadrata, sed plana est; ut autem in altitudinem surgat et solida fiat, rursus centum deciens multiplicantur, et mille sunt.

But a thousand years can, as far as occurs to me, be understood in two ways: either because in the last years this thing is transacted for a thousand, that is, at the sixth milestone of years as on the sixth day, whose later spans are now rolling on, with the sabbath to follow thereafter, which has no evening, namely the rest of the saints, which has no end—so that he called the last part, as it were of a day, of this milestone, which remained up to the end of the age, “a thousand years,” by that mode of speaking by which a part is signified from the whole; or certainly he set “a thousand years” for all the years of this age, so that the very fullness of time might be marked by a perfect number. For the millenary number renders the square solid of the denary number. For ten, led ten times, becomes a hundred, which is already a square figure, but flat; but in order that it may rise into height and be made solid, again a hundred is multiplied ten times, and they are a thousand.

Porro si centum ipsa pro uniuersitate aliquando ponuntur, quale illud est, quod Dominus omnia sua dimittenti et eum sequenti promisit dicens: Accipiet in hoc saeculo centuplum, quod exponens quodam modo apostolus ait: Quasi nihil habentes, et omnia possidentes; quia et ante iam dictum erat: Fidelis hominis totus mundus diuitiarum est; quanto magis mille pro uniuersitate ponuntur, ubi est soliditas ipsius denariae quadraturae? Vnde nec illud melius intellegitur, quod in psalmo legitur: Memor fuit in saeculum testamenti sui uerbi, quod mandauit in mille generationes, id est in omnes.

Moreover, if one hundred itself is sometimes set for universality, as in that instance when the Lord promised to the one leaving all his things and following him, saying: He will receive a hundredfold in this age; which, expounding in a certain way, the apostle says: As having nothing, and possessing all things; since even before it had already been said: The whole world is the faithful man’s wealth; how much more is a thousand set for universality, where there is the solidity of the denary square itself? Whence that, too, is better understood, which is read in the psalm: He was mindful forever of his testament, the word which he commanded, unto a thousand generations, that is, unto all.

Et misit illum, inquit, in abyssum; utique diabolum misit in abyssum, quo nomine significata est multitudo innumerabilis impiorum, quorum in malignitate aduersus ecclesiam Dei multum profunda sunt corda; non quia ibi diabolus ante non erat; sed ideo illuc dicitur missus, quia exclusus a credentibus plus coepit impios possidere. Plus namque possidetur a diabolo, qui non solum est alienatus a Deo, uerum etiam gratis odit seruientes Deo. Et clusit, inquit, et signauit super eum, ut non seduceret iam gentes, donec finiantur mille anni.

And he sent him, he says, into the abyss; surely he sent the devil into the abyss, by which name is signified an innumerable multitude of the impious, whose hearts are very deep in malignity against the Church of God; not because the devil was not there before, but for this reason he is said to have been sent there: because, excluded from believers, he began to possess the impious more. For one is more possessed by the devil who not only is alienated from God, but also for nothing hates those serving God. And he shut, he says, and sealed over him, so that he might no longer seduce the nations, until the thousand years are completed.

Clausit super eum dictum est "interdixit ei, ne posset exire," id est uetitum transgredi. Signauit autem, quod addidit, significasse mihi uidetur, quod occultum esse uoluit, qui pertineant ad partem diaboli; et qui non pertineant. Hoc quippe in saeculo isto prorsus latet, quia et qui uidetur stare, utrum sit casurus, et qui uidetur iacere, utrum sit surrecturus, incertum est.

It was said, "He shut over him"—"he interdicted him, lest he could go out," that is, it was forbidden to transgress. And "he sealed," moreover, which he added, seems to me to have signified that he willed it to be hidden who pertain to the party of the devil, and who do not pertain. For this in this age lies altogether hidden, because it is uncertain both whether he who seems to stand is going to fall, and whether he who seems to lie is going to rise.

Ab eis autem gentibus seducendis huius interdicti uinculo et claustro diabolus prohibetur atque cohibetur, quas pertinentes ad Christum seducebat antea uel tenebat. Has enim Deus elegit ante mundi constitutionem eruere de potestate tenebrarum et transferre in regnum filii caritatis suae, sicut apostolus dicit. Nam seducere illum gentes etiam nunc et secum trahere in aeternam poenam, sed non praedestinatas in aeternam uitam, quis fidelis ignorat?

But from deceiving those nations the devil is forbidden and restrained by the bond and closure of this interdict—those whom, as pertaining to Christ, he formerly deceived or held. For God chose these before the constitution of the world to rescue them from the power of darkness and to transfer them into the kingdom of the Son of his charity, as the Apostle says. For that he even now deceives nations and drags them with himself into eternal punishment—but not those predestined to eternal life—what faithful person does not know?

Nec moueat, quod saepe diabolus seducit etiam illos, qui regenerati iam in Christo uias ingrediuntur Dei. Nouit enim Dominus qui sunt eius; ex his in aeternam damnationem neminem ille seducit. Sic enim eos nouit Dominus, ut Deus, quem nil latet etiam futurorum, non ut homo, qui hominem ad praesens uidet (si tamen uidet, cuius cor non uidet), qualis autem postea sit futurus nec se ipsum uidet.

Nor let it move you that the devil often seduces even those who, already regenerated in Christ, enter upon the ways of God. For the Lord knows those who are his; of these he seduces no one into eternal damnation. For thus does the Lord know them, as God—from whom nothing is hidden, even of future things—not as man, who sees a man for the present (if indeed he sees him, whose heart he does not see), but as to what he will afterwards be in the future, not even himself does he see.

Ad hoc ergo ligatus est diabolus et inclusus in abysso, ut iam non seducat gentes, ex quibus constat ecclesia, quas antea seductas tenebat, antequam essent ecclesia. Neque enim dictum est " ut non seduceret aliquem", sed ut non seduceret, inquit, iam gentes, in quibus ecclesiam procul dubio uoluit intellegi, donec finiantur, inquit, mille anni, id est, aut quod remanet de sexto die, qui constat ex mille annis, aut omnes anni, quibus deinceps hoc saeculum peragendum est.

To this end therefore the devil has been bound and enclosed in the abyss, that he may now no longer seduce the nations, of which the church consists, whom he previously held seduced before they were the church. For it was not said “that he should not seduce someone,” but “that he should not seduce,” he says, now the nations, by which he without doubt wished the church to be understood, until, he says, the thousand years are finished, that is, either what remains of the sixth day, which consists of 1,000 years, or all the years in which thereafter this age is to be accomplished.

Nec sic accipiendum est quod ait: Vt non seduceret gentes, donec finiantur mille anni, quasi postea sit seducturus eas dumtaxat gentes, ex quibus praedestinata constat ecclesia, a quibus seducendis illo est uinculo claustroque prohibitus. Sed aut illa locutione dictum est, quae in scripturis aliquotiens inuenitur, qualis est in psalmo: Sic oculi nostri ad Dominum Deum nostrum, donec misereatur nostri; neque enim, cum misertus fuerit, non erunt oculi seruorum eius ad Dominum Deum suum; aut certe iste est ordo uerborum: Et clausit et signauit super eum, donec finiantur mille anni; quod uero interposuit: Vt non seduceret iam gentes, ita se habet, ut ab huius ordinis conexione sit liberum et seorsus intellegendum, uelut si post adderetur, ut sic se haberet tota sententia: Et clausit et signauit super eum, donec finiantur mille anni, ut non seduceret iam gentes; id est, ideo clausit donec finiantur mille anni, ut non seduceret iam gentes.

Nor is that to be taken thus, what he says: “that he might not seduce the nations, until 1000 years be finished,” as though afterwards he would be going to seduce those nations only, out of which the predestined Church consists, from the seducing of whom he is prohibited by that chain and by that prison. But either it was said by that locution which is found in the Scriptures at certain times, such as in the psalm: “Thus our eyes are unto the Lord our God, until he shall have mercy on us”; for neither, when he shall have had mercy, will the eyes of his servants not be unto the Lord their God; or certainly this is the order of the words: “And he shut and sealed over him, until 1000 years be finished”; but what he inserted, “that he might not seduce now the nations,” stands thus, that it is free from the connection of this order and is to be understood separately, as if afterwards there were added, so that the whole sentence would stand thus: “And he shut and sealed over him, until 1000 years be finished, that he might not seduce now the nations”; that is, for this reason he shut until 1000 years be finished, that he might not seduce now the nations.

[VIII] Post haec, inquit, oportet eum solui breui tempore. Si hoc est diabolo ligari et includi, ecclesiam non posse seducere, haec ergo erit solutio eius, ut possit? Absit; numquam enim ab illo ecclesia seducetur praedestinata et electa ante mundi constitutionem, de qua dictum est: Nouit Dominus qui sunt eius.

[8] After these things, he says, it is necessary that he be loosed for a brief time. If this is, for the devil to be bound and enclosed, that he cannot seduce the church, will this then be his loosing, that he may be able? Far be it; for never will the church be seduced by him, predestined and elect before the constitution of the world, about which it has been said: The Lord knows those who are his.

Et tamen hic erit etiam illo tempore, quo soluendus est diabolus, sicut, ex quo est instituta, hic fuit et erit omni tempore, in suis utique qui succedunt nascendo morientibus. Nam paulo post dicit, quod solutus diabolus seductas gentes toto orbe terrarum adtrahet in bellum aduersus eam, quorum hostium numerus erit ut harena maris. Et ascenderunt, inquit, supra terrae latitudinem, et cinxerunt castra sanctorum et dilectam ciuitatem, et descendit ignis de caelo a Deo et comedit eos; et diabolus, qui seducebat eos, missus est in stagnum ignis et sulphuris, ubi et bestia et pseudopropheta; et cruciabuntur die et nocte in saecula saeculorum.

And yet it will be here even at that time when the devil is to be loosed, just as, from when it was instituted, it has been here and will be at every time, namely in its own who, by being born, succeed to those dying. For a little after he says that the devil, loosed, will draw the nations, having been seduced, throughout the whole orb of the lands into war against her, whose enemies’ number will be as the sand of the sea. And they went up, he says, over the breadth of the earth, and encircled the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire descended from heaven from God and consumed them; and the devil who was seducing them was sent into the lake of fire and sulphur, where also are the beast and the pseudo-prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night unto the ages of ages.

Sed hoc iam ad iudicium nouissimum pertinet, quod nunc propterea commemorandum putaui, ne quis existimet eo ipso paruo tempore, quo soluetur diabolus, in hac terra ecclesiam non futuram, illo hic eam uel non inueniente, cum fuerit solutus, uel absumente, cum fuerit modis omnibus persecutus. Non itaque per totum hoc tempus, quod liber iste complectitur, a primo scilicet aduentu Christi usque in saeculi finem, qui erit secundus eius aduentus, ita diabolus alligatur, ut eius haec ipsa sit alligatio, per hoc interuallum, quod mille annorum numero appellat, non seducere ecclesiam, quando quidem illam nec solutus utique seducturus est. Nam profecto ei si alligari est non posse seducere siue non permitti: quid erit solui nisi posse seducere siue permitti?

But this now pertains to the most final judgment, which I have thought should be commemorated at this point, lest anyone suppose that in that very short time in which the devil will be loosed, the Church will not exist on this earth—either because he, when he has been loosed, will not find her here, or because he will consume her when he has persecuted her by every method. Therefore not throughout all this period which this book embraces, namely from the first advent of Christ to the end of the age—which will be his second advent—is the devil so bound that this should itself be his binding during the interval which he designates by the number of a thousand years, namely, that he not seduce the Church, since indeed not even when loosed will he seduce her. For assuredly, if for him to be bound is not to be able to seduce or not to be permitted, what will it be to be loosed except to be able to seduce or to be permitted?

Quod absit ut fiat; sed alligatio diaboli est non permitti exserere totam temptationem, quam potest uel ui uel dolo ad seducendos homines in partem suam cogendo uiolenter fraudulenterue fallendo. Quod si permitteretur in tam longo tempore et tanta infirmitate multorum, plurimos tales, quales Deus id perpeti non uult, et fideles deiceret et ne crederent impediret; quod ne faceret, alligatus est.

Which far be it that it should come to pass; but the binding of the devil is his not being permitted to put forth the whole temptation which he can, either by force or by fraud, to seduce human beings into his own party, by compelling them, whether violently or fraudulently, by deceiving. But if this were permitted, in so long a time and with so great an infirmity of many, he would cast down very many such as God does not will to suffer this, and he would both overthrow the faithful and impede them from believing; that he might not do this, he has been bound.

Tunc autem soluetur, quando et breue tempus erit (nam tribus annis et sex mensibus legitur totis suis suorumque uiribus saeuiturus) et tales erunt, cum quibus ei belligerandum est, ut uinci tanto eius impetu insidiisque non possint. Si autem numquam solueretur, minus appareret eius maligna potentia, minus sanctae ciuitatis fidelissima patientia probaretur, minus denique perspiceretur, quam magno eius malo tam bene fuerit usus Omnipotens, qui eum nec omnino abstulit a temptatione sanctorum, quamuis ab eorum interioribus hominibus, ubi in Deum creditur, foras missum, ut eius forinsecus oppugnatione proficerent; et in eis, qui sunt ex parte ipsius, alligauit, ne quantam posset effundendo et exercendo malitiam innumerabiles infirmos, ex quibus ecclesiam multiplicari et impleri oportebat, alios credituros, alios iam credentes, a fide pietatis hos deterreret, hos frangeret; et soluet in fine, ut, quam fortem aduersarium Dei ciuitas superauerit, cum ingenti gloria sui redemptoris adiutoris liberatoris aspiciat. In eorum sane, qui tunc futuri sunt, sanctorum atque fidelium comparatione quid sumus?

Then, however, he will be loosed, when there will also be a brief time (for it is read that for three years and six months he is going to rage with all his own strength and that of his followers), and such will be those with whom he has to wage war, that they cannot be overcome by so great his onrush and ambushes. But if he were never loosed, his malignant potency would appear less, the most faithful patience of the holy city would be less proved, finally it would be less perceived how well the Omnipotent has made use of so great his evil: who neither altogether removed him from the temptation of the saints, although from their inner men, where there is belief in God, he was sent outside, in order that by his assault from without they might make progress; and in those who are on his side he bound him, lest by pouring out and exercising as much malice as he could he should, from the countless weak—of whom it was fitting that the church be multiplied and filled—some about to believe, others already believing, from the faith of piety, deter these and shatter those; and he will loose him at the end, so that the City of God may behold, with the immense glory of its Redeemer, Helper, Deliverer, how strong an adversary it has overcome. In comparison, indeed, with the saints and faithful who shall then be, what are we?

Quando quidem ad illos probandos tantus soluetur inimicus, cum quo nos ligato tantis periculis dimicamus. Quamuis et hoc temporis interuallo quosdam milites Christi tam prudentes et fortes fuisse atque esse non dubium est, ut, etiamsi tunc in ista mortalitate uiuerent, quando ille soluetur, omnes insidias eius atque impetus et cauerent sapientissime et patientissime sustinerent.

Since indeed, for the proving of those, so great an enemy will be loosed, with whom, though he is bound, we contend amid such great perils. Although even in this interval of time it is not doubtful that certain soldiers of Christ have been and are so prudent and brave that, even if they were then living in this mortality when he will be loosed, they would both most wisely beware all his snares and impetuous assaults, and most patiently sustain them.

Haec autem alligatio diaboli non solum facta est, ex quo coepit ecclesia praeter Iudaeam terram in nationes alias atque alias dilatari; sed etiam nunc fit et fiet usque ad terminum saeculi, quo soluendus est, quia et nunc homines ab infidelitate, in qua eos ipse possidebat, conuertuntur ad fidem et usque in illum finem sine dubio conuertentur; et utique unicuique iste fortis tunc alligatur, quando ab illo tamquam uas eius eripitur; et abyssus, ubi inclusus est, non in eis consumpta est, quando sunt mortui, qui tunc erant quando esse coepit inclusus; sed successerunt eis alii nascendo atque succedunt, donec finiatur hoc saeculum, qui oderint Christianos, in quorum cotidie, uelut in abysso, caecis et profundis cordibus includatur. Vtrum autem etiam illis ultimis tribus annis et mensibus sex, quando solutus totis uiribus saeuiturus est, aliquis, in qua non fuerat, sit accessurus ad fidem, nonnulla quaestio est. Quo modo enim stabit quod dictum est: Quis intrat in domum fortis, ut uasa eius eripiat, nisi prius alligauerit fortem, si etiam soluto eripiuntur?

But this binding of the devil not only was done from the time when the Church began to be extended beyond the Judean land into one nation after another; it is also now being done and will be done up to the end of the age, when he is to be loosed, because even now people are being converted from infidelity, in which he himself possessed them, to faith, and without doubt they will be converted until that end; and surely for each person this strong one is then bound, when one is snatched from him as his vessel; and the abyss, in which he is enclosed, was not exhausted in those who died who were then alive when he began to be enclosed; rather others succeeded them by being born and do succeed, until this age is finished—those who hate Christians—in whose hearts daily, as in an abyss, blind and deep, he is enclosed. Whether moreover even in those last three years and six months, when, loosed, he is going to rage with all his forces, anyone who had not been in it will come to the faith, is a question not without discussion. For how will what was said stand: Who enters the house of the strong man to snatch his vessels, unless he first bind the strong man, if even when he is loosed they are snatched?

Ac per hoc ad hoc cogere uidetur ista sententia, ut credamus illo licet exiguo tempore neminem accessurum esse populo Christiano, sed cum eis, qui iam Christiani reperti fuerint, diabolum pugnaturum; ex quibus etiamsi aliqui uicti secuti eum fuerint, non eos ad praedestinatum filiorum Dei numerum pertinere. Neque enim frustra idem Iohannes apostolus, qui et hanc apocalypsin scripsit, in epistula sua de quibusdam dicit: Ex nobis exierunt, sed non erant ex nobis; nam si fuissent ex nobis, mansissent utique nobiscum. Sed quid fit de paruulis?

And therefore this opinion seems to compel us to this: that we believe that in that, albeit brief, time no one will join the Christian people, but that the devil will fight with those who shall already have been found Christians; of whom, even if some, having been conquered, should follow him, they do not pertain to the predestined number of the sons of God. For not in vain does the same John the Apostle, who also wrote this Apocalypse, say in his epistle concerning certain persons: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us.” But what of the little ones?

Nimium quippe incredibile est nullos iam natos et nondum baptizatos praeoccupari Christianorum filios illo tempore infantes, nullos etiam ipsis nasci iam diebus; aut si erunt, non eos a parentibus suis ad lauacrum regenerationis modo quocumque perduci. Quod si fiet, quo pacto soluto iam diabolo uasa ista eripientur, in cuius domum nemo intrat, ut uasa eius eripiat, nisi prius alligauerit eum? Immo uero id potius est credendum, nec qui cadant de ecclesia nec qui accedant ecclesiae illo tempore defuturos; sed profecto tam fortes erunt et parentes pro baptizandis paruulis suis et hi, qui tunc primitus credituri sunt, ut illum fortem uincant etiam non ligatum, id est omnibus, qualibus antea numquam, uel artibus insidiantem uel urgentem uiribus et uigilanter intellegant et toleranter ferant, ac sic illi etiam non ligato eripiantur.

For it is altogether incredible that no children of Christians already born and not yet baptized should be pre‑empted—infants—at that time, that none should even be born in those very days; or, if there shall be, that they should not be led by their parents to the laver of regeneration in whatever way. But if this should happen, in what manner, the devil already loosed, will these vessels be snatched away—from whose house no one enters to snatch his vessels unless he shall first have bound him? Nay rather, this is more to be believed: that at that time there will not be lacking either those who fall from the Church or those who accede to the Church; but assuredly both the parents, on behalf of having their little ones baptized, and those who then are going to believe for the first time, will be so strong as to conquer that strong one even unbound, that is, while he with all—such as never before—either lies in wait by arts or presses with forces, and they will both understand vigilantly and bear tolerantly, and thus they will be snatched from him even when he is not bound.

Nec ideo falsa erit euangelica illa sententia: Quis intrat in domum fortis, ut uasa eius eripiat, nisi prius alligauerit fortem? Secundum eius enim sententiae ueritatem ordo iste seruatus est, ut prius alligaretur fortis ereptisque uasis eius longe lateque in omnibus gentibus ex firmis et infirmis ita multiplicaretur ecclesia, ut ex ipsa rerum diuinitus praedictarum et impletarum robustissima fide etiam soluto uasa posset auferre. Sicut enim fatendum est multorum refrigescere caritatem, cum abundat iniquitas, et inusitatis maximisque persecutionibus atque fallaciis diaboli iam soluti eos, qui in libro uitae scripti non sunt, multos esse cessuros: ita cogitandum est non solum quos bonos fideles illud tempus inueniet, sed nonnullus etiam, qui foris adhuc erunt, adiuuante Dei gratia per considerationem scripturarum, in quibus et alia et finis ipse praenuntiatus est, quem uenire iam sentiunt, ad credendum quod non credebant futuros esse firmiores et ad uincendum etiam non ligatum diabolum fortiores.

Nor for that reason will that evangelic sentence be false: Who enters the house of the strong man, to snatch his vessels, unless he shall first have bound the strong man? For according to the truth of that sentence this order has been observed, that first the strong man should be bound and, his vessels having been snatched away, far and wide among all the nations from both the strong and the weak the Church should be multiplied in such wise that, by the very most robust faith of things divinely fore-predicted and fulfilled, it could also, even when he is loosed, carry off the vessels. For just as it must be confessed that the charity of many grows cold when iniquity abounds, and that under unusual and very great persecutions and the fallacies of the devil now loosed many—those who are not written in the book of life—will fall away: so it must be considered that not only those good faithful whom that time will find, but also certain persons who will still be outside, with the grace of God helping, through consideration of the Scriptures, in which both other things and the end itself are pre-announced—whose coming they already perceive—will become firmer to believe what they did not believe, and stronger to conquer the devil even unbound.

Quod si ita erit, propterea praecessisse dicenda est eius alligatio, ut et ligati et soluti expoliatio sequeretur; quoniam de hac re dictum est: Quis intrabit in domum fortis, ut uasa eius eripiat, nisi prius alligauerit fortem?

If it will be so, for that reason his binding is to be said to have preceded, so that the despoiling would follow both the binding and the loosing; since about this matter it has been said: Who will enter into the house of the strong man, to snatch his vessels, unless he shall first have bound the strong man?

[IX] Interea dum mille annis ligatus est diabolus, sancti regnant cum Christo etiam ipsi mille annis, eisdem sine dubio et eodem modo intellegendis, id est isto iam tempore prioris eius aduentus. Excepto quippe illo regno, de quo in fine dicturus est: Venite, benedicti patris mei, possidete paratum uobis regnum, nisi alio aliquo modo, longe quidem impari, iam nunc regnarent cum illo sancti eius, quibus ait: Ecce ego uobiscum sum usque in consummationem saeculi; profecto non etiam nunc diceretur ecclesia regnum eius regnumue caelorum. Nam utique isto tempore in regno Dei eruditur scriba ille, qui profert de thensauro suo noua et uetera, de quo supra locuti sumus; et de ecclesia collecturi sunt zizania messores illi, quae permisit cum tritico simul crescere usque ad messem; quod exponens ait: Messis est finis saeculi, messores autem angeli sunt.

[9] Meanwhile, while the devil is bound for a thousand years, the saints reign with Christ for a thousand years as well—these are, without doubt, to be understood as the same and in the same manner, that is, as this present time of his first Advent. For excepting that kingdom of which at the end he will say, “Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you,” unless in some other way, indeed far unequal, his saints were even now reigning with him, to whom he says, “Behold, I am with you until the consummation of the age,” assuredly the church would not even now be called his kingdom or the kingdom of heaven. For surely in this time that scribe is trained in the kingdom of God who brings forth from his treasury things new and old, of whom we spoke above; and from the church those reapers will gather the tares, which he permitted to grow together with the wheat until the harvest; which, expounding it, he said: “The harvest is the end of the age, but the reapers are the angels.”

Sicut ergo colliguntur zizania et igni comburuntur, sic erit in consummatione saeculi; mittet filius hominis angelos suos, et colligent de regno eius omnia scandala. Numquid de regno illo, ubi nulla sunt scandala? De isto ergo regno eius, quod est hic ecclesia, colligentur.

Thus, as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be in the consummation of the age; the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all scandals. Is it from that kingdom where there are no scandals? From this kingdom of his, which here is the Church, they will be collected.

Item dicit: Qui soluerit unum de mandatis istis minimis et docuerit sic homines, minimus uocabitur in regno caelorum; qui autem fecerit et sic docuerit, magnus uocabitur in regno caelorum. Vtrumque dicit in regno caelorum, et qui non facit mandata quae docet (hoc est enim soluere: non seruare, non facere), et illum qui facit et sic docet; sed istum minimum, illum magnum. Et continuo secutus adiungit: Dico enim uobis quia, nisi abundauerit iustitia uestra super scribarum et Pharisaeorum, id est super eos, qui soluunt quod docent (de scribis enim et Pharisaeis dicit alio loco: Quoniam dicunt, et non faciunt), — nisi ergo super hos abundauerit iustitia uestra, id est, ut uos non soluatis, sed faciatis potius quod docetis, non intrabitis, inquit, in regnum caelorum.

Likewise he says: “Whoever shall loose one of these least commandments and shall so teach men, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever shall do and so teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” He says “in the kingdom of heaven” of both—the one who does not do the commandments which he teaches (for to loose is this: not to keep, not to do), and the one who does and thus teaches; but this one, least; that one, great. And immediately, continuing, he adds: “For I say to you that, unless your righteousness shall abound beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees,” that is, beyond those who loose what they teach (for concerning the scribes and the Pharisees he says elsewhere: “For they say, and do not do”),—“unless therefore your righteousness shall abound beyond these,” that is, so that you do not loose, but rather do what you teach, “you shall not enter,” he says, “into the kingdom of heaven.”

Alio modo igitur intellegendum est regnum caelorum, ubi ambo sunt, et ille scilicet qui soluit quod docet, et ille qui facit; sed ille minimus, ille magnus: alio modo autem regnum caelorum dicitur, quo non intrat nisi ille qui facit. Ac per hoc ubi utrumque genus est, ecclesia est, qualis nunc est; ubi autem illud solum erit, ecclesia est, qualis tunc erit, quando malus in ea non erit. Ergo et nunc ecclesia regnum Christi est regnumque caelorum.

Therefore the kingdom of heaven must be understood in another way, where both are, both the one, namely, who looses what he teaches, and the one who does; but the former is least, the latter great: yet in another way the kingdom of heaven is spoken of, into which none enters except the one who does. And accordingly, where both kinds are, there is the church, such as it now is; but where that alone will be, there is the church, such as it then will be, when the wicked man will not be in it. Therefore even now the church is the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven.

Regnant itaque cum illo etiam nunc sancti eius, aliter quidem, quam tunc regnabunt; nec tamen cum illo regnant zizania, quamuis in ecclesia cum tritico crescant. Regnant enim cum illo, qui faciunt quod ait apostolus: Si resurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt sapite, ubi Christus est in dextera Dei sedens; quae sursum sunt quaerite, non quae super terram; de qualibus item dicit, quod eorum conuersatio sit in caelis. Postremo regnant cum illo, qui eo modo sunt in regno eius, ut sint etiam ipsi regnum eius.

Therefore his saints also reign with him even now, indeed otherwise than they will then reign; nor, however, do the tares reign with him, although in the Church they grow with the wheat. For they reign with him who do what the apostle says: “If you have been raised with Christ, savor the things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God; seek the things above, not the things upon the earth;” about such he likewise says that their conversation is in the heavens. Finally, they reign with him who are in his kingdom in such a manner as to be themselves also his kingdom.

Quo modo autem sunt regnum Christi, qui, ut alia taceam, quamuis ibi sint donec colligantur in fine saeculi de regno eius omnia scandala, tamen illic sua quaerunt, non quae Iesu Christi?

But in what way are they the kingdom of Christ, who— to be silent of other things— although they are there until, at the end of the age, all scandals are gathered out of his kingdom, nevertheless there seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ?

De hoc ergo regno militiae, in quo adhuc cum hoste confligitur et aliquando repugnatur pugnantibus uitiis, aliquando cedentibus imperatur, donec ueniatur ad illud pacatissimum regnum, ubi sine hoste regnabitur, et de hac prima resurrectione, quae nunc est, liber iste sic loquitur. Cum enim dixisset alligari diabolum mille annis, et postea solui breui tempore, tum recapitulando quid in istis mille annis agat ecclesia uel agatur in ea: Et uidi, inquit, sedes et sedentes super eas, et iudicium datum est. Non hoc putandum est de ultimo iudicio dici; sed sedes praepositorum et ipsi praepositi intellegendi sunt, per quos nunc ecclesia gubernatur.

Therefore, concerning this kingdom of soldiery, in which there is still a clash with the enemy and sometimes the fighting vices are resisted, sometimes, when they yield, they are ruled, until one comes to that most peaceable kingdom where there will be reigning without an enemy—and concerning this first resurrection, which is now—this book speaks thus. For after he had said that the devil is bound for a thousand years, and afterwards is loosed for a short time, then, by recapitulating what the church does in those thousand years, or what is done in her: “And I saw,” he says, “thrones and those sitting upon them, and judgment was given.” This is not to be thought spoken of the last judgment; but the thrones of the prepositors and the prepositors themselves are to be understood, through whom the church is now governed.

Iudicium autem datum nullum melius accipiendum uidetur, quam id quod dictum est: Quae ligaueritis in terra, ligata erunt et in caelo; et quae solueritis in terra, soluta erunt et in caelo. Vnde apostolus: Quid enim mihi est, inquit, de his, qui foris sunt, iudicare? Nonne de his qui intus sunt uos iudicatis?

But the judgment given seems best to be taken as that which has been said: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Whence the Apostle: “For what is it to me,” he says, “to judge those who are outside? Is it not those who are within that you judge?”

Et animae, inquit, occisorum propter testimonium Iesu et propter uerbum Dei; subauditur quod postea dicturus est: Regnauerunt cum Iesu mille annis; animae scilicet martyrum non dum sibi corporibus suis redditis. Neque enim piorum animae mortuorum separantur ab ecclesia, quae nunc etiam est regnum Christi. Alioquin nec ad altare Dei fieret eorum memoria in communicatione corporis Christi; nec aliquid prodesset ad eius baptismum in periculis currere, ne sine illo finiatur haec uita; nec ad reconciliationem, si forte per paenitentiam malamue conscientiam quisque ab eodem corpore separatus est.

And the souls, he says, of those slain on account of the testimony of Jesus and on account of the word of God; it is understood what he is going to say afterwards: They reigned with Jesus for 1,000 years; namely the souls of the martyrs, not yet with their bodies restored to them. For the souls of the pious dead are not separated from the Church, which even now is the kingdom of Christ. Otherwise neither would their commemoration be made at the altar of God in the communion of the body of Christ; nor would it profit to run to his baptism in perils, lest this life be finished without it; nor to reconciliation, if perchance through penance or an evil conscience anyone has been separated from the same body.

Cur enim fiunt ista, nisi quia fideles etiam defuncti membra sunt eius? Quamuis ergo cum suis corporibus nondum, iam tamen eorum animae regnant cum illo, dum isti anni mille decurrunt. Vnde in hoc eodem libro et alibi legitur: Beati mortui, qui in Domino moriuntur.

For why indeed are these things done, unless because the faithful, even the deceased, are his members? Although therefore not yet with their own bodies, nevertheless already their souls reign with him, while these 1,000 years run their course. Whence in this same book and elsewhere it is read: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

Amodo etiam dicit Spiritus, ut requiescant a laboribus suis; nam opera eorum sequuntur eos. Regnat itaque cum Christo nunc primum ecclesia in uiuis et mortuis. Propterea enim, sicut dicit apostolus, mortuus est Christus, ut et uiuorum et mortuorum dominetur.

Henceforth the Spirit also says, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow them. Therefore the Church now reigns with Christ in the living and the dead. For this reason, as the apostle says, Christ died, that He might have dominion over both the living and the dead.

Sed ideo tantummodo martyrum animas commemorauit, quia ipsi praecipue regnant mortui, qui usque ad mortem pro ueritate certarunt. Sed a parte totum etiam ceteros mortuos intellegimus pertinentes ad ecclesiam, quod est regnum Christi.

But for this reason he has made mention only of the souls of the martyrs, because they especially, though dead, reign, who contended for the truth unto death. But by the part the whole we also understand the other dead as pertaining to the Church, which is the kingdom of Christ.

Quod uero sequitur: Et si qui non adorauerunt bestiam nec imaginem eius, neque acceperunt inscriptionem in fronte aut in manu sua, simul de uiuis et mortuis debemus accipere. Quae sit porro ista bestia, quamuis sit diligentius requirendum, non tamen abhorret a fide recta, ut ipsa impia ciuitas intellegatur et populus infidelium contrarius populo fideli et ciuitati Dei. Imago uero eius simulatio eius mihi uidetur, in eis uidelicet hominibus, qui uelut fidem profitentur et infideliter uiuunt.

And as for what follows: And whoever did not adore the beast nor its image, nor receive the inscription on the forehead or on their hand, we must take this together of both the living and the dead. What moreover this beast is, although it ought to be inquired more diligently, yet it does not recoil from right faith that the impious city itself be understood, and the people of unbelievers, opposed to the faithful people and to the City of God. But its image seems to me to be its simulation, namely in those men who, as if, profess the faith and live unfaithfully.

Fingunt enim se esse quod non sunt, uocanturque non ueraci effigie, sed fallaci imagine Christiani. Ad eandem namque bestiam pertinent non solum aperte inimici nominis Christi et eius gloriosissimae ciuitatis, sed etiam zizania, quae de regno eius, quod est ecclesia, in fine saeculi colligenda sunt. Et qui sunt qui non adorant bestiam nec imaginem eius, nisi qui faciunt quod ait apostolus: Ne sitis iugum ducentes cum infidelibus?

For they feign themselves to be what they are not, and are called Christians not by a veracious effigy, but by a fallacious image. For to that same beast pertain not only the open enemies of the name of Christ and of his most glorious city, but also the tares (zizania), which from his kingdom, which is the Church, are to be gathered at the end of the age. And who are they who do not adore the beast nor its image, if not those who do what the apostle says: Do not be yoked together with infidels?

"Non adorant" enim est non consentiunt, non subiciuntur; "neque accipiunt inscriptionem," notam scilicet criminis, "in fronte" propter professionem, "in manu" propter operationem. Ab his igitur malis alieni, siue adhuc in ista mortali carne uiuentes siue defuncti, regnant cum Christo iam nunc modo quodam huic tempori congruo per totum hoc interuallum, quod numero mille significatur annorum.

"Not to adore" indeed is: they do not consent, they are not subjected; "nor do they receive the inscription," namely the mark of the crime, "on the forehead" on account of profession, "on the hand" on account of operation. Therefore, being alien from these evils, whether still living in this mortal flesh or having died, they reign with Christ even now in a certain manner congruent to this time through this whole interval, which is signified by the number of a thousand years.

Reliqui eorum, inquit, non uixerunt. Hora enim nunc est, cum mortui audiunt uocem filii Dei, et qui audierint uiuent; reliqui ergo eorum non uiuent. Quod uero subdidit: Donec finiantur mille anni, intellegendum est, quod eo tempore non uixerunt, quo uiuere debuerunt, ad uitam scilicet de morte transeundo.

The rest of them, he says, did not live. For now is the hour, when the dead hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live; therefore the rest of them will not live. But as to what he subjoined: Until the thousand years are finished, it is to be understood that at that time they did not live when they ought to have lived, namely by passing from death to life.

Et ideo cum dies uenerit, quo fiat et corporum resurrectio, non ad uitam de monumentis procedent, sed ad iudicium; ad damnationem scilicet, quae secunda mors dicitur. Donec finiantur enim mille anni, quicumque non uixerit, id est, toto isto tempore, quo agitur prima resurrectio, non audierit uocem filii Dei et ad uitam de morte transierit, profecto in secunda resurrectione, quae carnis est, in mortem secundam cum ipsa carne transibit. Sequitur enim et dicit: Haec resurrectio prima est.

And therefore when the day shall have come on which the resurrection of bodies also takes place, they will not come forth from the monuments (tombs) to life, but to judgment; namely to damnation, which is called the second death. For until the 1,000 years are finished, whoever has not lived—that is, throughout this whole time in which the first resurrection is being effected—has not heard the voice of the Son of God and passed from death to life, assuredly in the second resurrection, which is of the flesh, will pass into the second death with that very flesh. For it follows and says: This is the first resurrection.

Beatus et sanctus qui habet in hac prima resurrectione partem, id est particeps eius est. Ipse est autem particeps eius, qui non solum a morte, quae in peccatis est, reuiuescit, uerum etiam in eo, quod reuixerit, permanebit. In istis, inquit, secunda mors non habet potestatem.

Blessed and holy is he who has a part in this first resurrection, that is, is a participant of it. But he is a participant of it who not only revives from the death which is in sins, but also will remain in that wherein he has been revived. In these, he says, the second death does not have power.

Habet ergo in reliquis, de quibus superius ait: Reliqui eorum non uixerunt, donec finiantur mille anni; quoniam toto isto temporis interuallo, quod mille annos uocat, quantumcumque in eo quisque eorum uixit in corpore, non reuixit a morte, in qua eum tenebat impietas, ut sic reuiuescendo primae resurrectionis particeps fieret atque in eo potestatem secunda mors non haberet.

It pertains, therefore, to the rest, about whom he said above: “The rest of them did not live, until the thousand years were finished;” since throughout that whole interval of time, which he calls a thousand years, however much each of them lived in the body within it, he did not revive from the death in which impiety was holding him, so that by thus reviving he might become a participant in the first resurrection and the second death might not have power over him.

[X] Sunt qui putant resurrectionem dici non posse nisi corporum ideoque istam quoque primam in corporibus futuram esse contendunt. Quorum enim est, inquiunt, cadere, eorum est resurgere. Cadunt autem corpora moriendo; nam et a cadendo cadauera nuncupantur.

[10] There are those who think that resurrection cannot be predicated except of bodies, and therefore contend that this first one too will be in bodies. For, they say, it belongs to those who fall to rise again. But bodies fall by dying; for even cadavers are so named from “falling.”

Non ergo animarum, inquiunt, resurrectio potest esse, sed corporum. Sed quid contra apostolum dicunt, qui eam resurrectionem appellat? Nam secundum interiorem, non secundum exteriorem hominem utique resurrexerant, quibus ait: Si resurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt sapite.

Therefore, they say, there can be a resurrection not of souls but of bodies. But what do they say against the Apostle, who calls that a resurrection? For according to the inner, not according to the outer man, surely they had risen, to whom he says: If you have been raised with Christ, savor the things that are above.

Quem sensum uerbis aliis alibi posuit dicens: Vt, quem ad modum Christus resurrexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris, sic et nos in nouitate uitae ambulemus. Hinc est et illud: Surge qui dormis et exurge a mortuis, et inluminabit te Christus. Quod autem dicunt non posse resurgere, nisi qui cadunt, et ideo putant resurrectionem ad corpora, non ad animas pertinere, quia corporum est cadere: cur non audiunt: Non recedatis ab illo, ne cadatis, et: Suo Domino stat aut cadit; et: Qui se putat stare, caueat ne cadat?

Which sense he set elsewhere in other words, saying: As, just as Christ resurrected from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life. Hence too that: Arise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will illuminate you. But as to what they say, that none can rise again except those who fall, and therefore they think resurrection pertains to bodies, not to souls, because falling is of bodies: why do they not hear: Do not recede from him, lest you fall, and: To his own Lord he stands or falls; and: Let him who thinks he stands take care lest he fall?

Puto enim quod in anima, non in corpore casus iste cauendus est. Si igitur cadentium est resurrectio, cadunt autem et animae: profecto et animas resurgere confitendum est. Quod autem, cum dixisset: In istis secunda mors non habet potestatem, adiunxit atque ait: Sed erunt sacerdotes Dei et Christi et regnabunt cum eo mille annis: non utique de solis episcopis et presbyteris dictum est, qui proprie iam uocantur in ecclesia sacerdotes; sed sicut omnes christos dicimus propter mysticum chrisma, sic omnes sacerdotes, quoniam membra sunt unius sacerdotis; de quibus apostolus Petrus: Plebs, inquit, sancta, regale sacerdotium.

For I think that this fall is to be guarded against in the soul, not in the body. Therefore, if resurrection is of those who fall, and souls also fall, surely it must be confessed that souls also rise again. But as, when he had said, “Over these the second death has no power,” he added and said, “But they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years”: this was not said of bishops and presbyters alone, who are now properly called priests in the church; but just as we call all “christs” on account of the mystical chrism, so [we call] all priests, since they are members of the one Priest; of whom the apostle Peter [says]: “A holy people, a royal priesthood.”

Sane, licet breuiter atque transeunter, insinuauit esse Deum Christum dicendo: Sacerdotes Dei et Christi, hoc est Patris et Filii; quamuis propter formam serui sicut hominis filius, ita etiam sacerdos Christus effectus sit in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech. De qua re in hoc opere non semel diximus.

Indeed, although briefly and in passing, he insinuated that Christ is God by saying: Priests of God and of Christ, that is, of the Father and of the Son; although on account of the form of a servant, as the son of man, so also Christ has been made priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. About which matter in this work we have spoken more than once.

[XI] Et cum finiti fuerint, inquit, mille anni, soluetur satanas de custodia sua, et exibit ad seducendas nationes, quae sunt in quattuor angulis terrae, Gog et Magog, et trahet eos in bellum, quorum numerus est ut harena maris. Ad hoc ergo tunc seducet, ut in hoc bellum trahat. Nam et antea modis quibus poterat par mala multa et uaria seducebat.

[11] And when the thousand years shall have been finished, he says, Satan will be loosed from his custody, and he will go out to seduce the nations which are in the four angles of the earth, Gog and Magog, and he will draw them into war, whose number is as the sand of the sea. To this, therefore, then he will seduce, in order to draw into this war. For even before, by the modes by which he could, he was seducing to many and various evils.

Exibit autem dictum est "in apertam persecutionem de latebris erumpet odiorum." Haec enim erit nouissima persecutio, nouissimo inminente iudicio, quam sancta ecclesia toto terrarum orbe patietur, uniuersa scilicet ciuitas Christi ab uniuersa diaboli ciuitate, quantacumque erit utraque super terram. Gentes quippe istae, quas appellat Gog et Magog, non sic sunt accipiendae, tamquam sint aliqui in aliqua parte terrarum barbari constituti, siue quos quidam suspicantur Getas et Massagetas propter litteras horum nominum primas, siue aliquos alios alienigenas et a Romano iure seiunctos. Toto namque orbe terrarum significati sunt isti esse, cum dictum est nationes quae sunt in quattuor angulis terrae, easque subiecit esse Gog et Magog.

But it has been said he will go out “into open persecution; from the lurking-places of hatreds he will burst forth.” For this will be the latest persecution, with the latest judgment impending, which the holy Church will suffer through the whole orb of the lands, namely the whole City of Christ by the whole city of the devil, however great each will be upon the earth. For these nations, which he calls Gog and Magog, are not to be taken thus, as though they were certain barbarians established in some part of the lands—whether those whom some suspect to be the Getae and the Massagetae because of the first letters of these names, or some other alien-born peoples severed from Roman law. For they are signified to be throughout the whole orb of the lands, when it was said “the nations which are in the four corners of the earth,” and he subjoined that these are Gog and Magog.

Quorum interpretationem nominum esse comperimus Gog tectum, Magog de tecto; tamquam domus et ipse qui procedit de domo. Gentes ergo sunt, in quibus diabolum uelut in abysso superius intellegebamus inclusum, et ipse de illis quodam modo sese efferens et procedens; ut illae sint tectum, ipse de tecto. Si autem utrumque referamus ad gentes, non unum horum ad illas, alterum ad diabolum: et tectum ipsae sunt, quia in eis nunc includitur et quodam modo tegitur inimicus antiquus; et de tecto ipsae erunt, quando in apertum odium de operto erupturae sunt.

We have found the interpretation of their names to be: Gog, “roof/covering,” Magog, “from the roof”; as if a house and he himself who proceeds from the house. Therefore they are the nations, in whom above we understood the devil to be enclosed as it were in the abyss, and he himself in a certain manner exalting himself and proceeding from them; so that they are the roof, he “from the roof.” But if we refer both to the nations, not one of these to them and the other to the devil: “roof” they themselves are, because in them the ancient enemy is now enclosed and in a certain manner covered; and “from the roof” they themselves will be, when from covertness they are about to erupt into open hatred.

Quod uero ait: Et ascenderunt supra terrae latitudinem et cinxerunt castra sanctorum et dilectam ciuitatem: non utique ad unum locum uenisse uel uenturi esse significati sunt, quasi uno aliquo loco futura sint castra sanctorum et dilecta ciuitas, cum haec non sit nisi Christi ecclesia toto terrarum orbe diffusa; ac per hoc ubicumque tunc erit, quae in omnibus gentibus erit, quod significatum est nomine latitudinis terrae, ibi erunt castra sanctorum, ibi erit dilecta Deo ciuitas eius, ibi ab omnibus inimicis suis, quia et ipsi in omnibus cum illa gentibus erunt, persecutionis illius inmanitate cingetur, hoc est, in angustias tribulationis artabitur urguebitur concludetur; nec militiam suam deseret, quae uocabulo est appellata castrorum.

But as for what he says: And they ascended over the breadth of the earth and girded the camp of the saints and the beloved city: they are certainly not signified to have come, or to be going to come, to one place, as if in some single place there were going to be the camp of the saints and the beloved city, since this is nothing other than the Church of Christ diffused through the whole orb of the earth; and therefore, wherever it shall then be, which shall be among all nations—this is what was signified by the name “breadth of the earth”—there will be the camp of the saints, there will be his city beloved to God; there, by all her enemies, because they too will be in all the nations along with her, she will be encircled by the immanity of that persecution, that is, she will be narrowed into the straits of tribulation, pressed, shut in; nor will she desert her soldiery, which by appellation has been called “the camp.”

[XII] Quod uero ait: Et descendit ignis de caelo et comedit eos; non extremum putandum est id esse supplicium, quod erit, cum dicetur: Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum. Tunc quippe in ignem mittentur ipsi non ignis de caelo ueniet in ipsos. Hic autem bene intellegitur ignis de caelo de ipsa firmitate sanctorum, qua non cessuri sunt saeuientibus, ut eorum faciant uoluntatem.

[12] But as for what he says: And fire came down from heaven and consumed them; it must not be thought that that is the ultimate punishment, which will be when it shall be said: Depart from me, accursed, into the eternal fire. For then they themselves will be sent into the fire; fire from heaven will not come upon them. Here, however, the fire from heaven is well understood from the very firmity of the saints, by which they will not yield to those raging, so as to do their will.

Firmamentum est enim caelum, cuius firmitate illi cruciabuntur ardentissimo zelo, quoniam non poterunt adtrahere in partes Antichristi sanctos Christi. Et ipse erit ignis, qui comedet eos, et hoc a Deo, quia Dei munere insuperabiles fiunt sancti, unde excruciantur inimici. Sicut enim in bono positum est: Zelus domus tuae comedit me; ita e contrario: Zelus occupauit plebem ineruditam, et nunc ignis contrarios comedet.

For the firmament is heaven, by whose firmness they will be tormented with most ardent zeal, since they will not be able to draw the saints of Christ into the faction of Antichrist. And that itself will be the fire which will devour them, and this from God, because by the gift of God the saints become insuperable, whence the enemies are excruciated. For as in the good it is set down: Zeal of your house has consumed me; so on the contrary: Zeal has seized the inerudite plebs, and now fire will devour the adversaries.

Et nunc utique, excepto scilicet ultimi illius igne iudicii. Aut si eam plagam, qua percutiendi sunt ecclesiae persecutores ueniente iam Christo, quos uiuentes inueni et super terram, quando interficiet Antichristum spiritu oris sui, ignem appellauit descendentem de caelo eosque comedentem: neque hoc ultimum supplicium erit impiorum, sed illud quod facta corporum resurrectione passuri sunt.

And now assuredly, that is to say, with that last fire of judgment excepted. Or if he called that stroke, by which the persecutors of the Church are to be smitten at the now-coming of Christ—whom he will find alive upon the earth—when he will slay the Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth, “fire” descending from heaven and consuming them: neither will this be the last punishment of the impious, but rather that which they will undergo once the resurrection of bodies has been accomplished.

[XIII] Haec persecutio nouissima, quae futura est ab Antichristo (sicut iam diximus, quia et in hoc libro superius et apud Danielem prophetam positum est), tribus annis et sex mensibus erit. Quod tempus, quamuis exiguum, utrum ad mille annos pertineat, quibus et diabolum ligatum dicit et sanctos regnare cum Christo, an eisdem annis hoc paruum spatium superaddatur atque extra sit, merito ambigitur; quia, si dixerimus ad eosdem annos hoc pertinere, non tanto tempore, sed prolixiore cum Christo regnum sanctorum reperietur extendi quam diabolus alligari. Profecto enim sancti cum suo rege etiam in ipsa praecipue persecutione regnabunt mala tanta uincent es, quando diabolus iam non erit alligatus, ut eos persequi omnibus uiribus possit.

[13] This latest persecution, which is to come from the Antichrist (as we have already said, because it is set both earlier in this book and with the prophet Daniel), will be three years and six months. This time, although slight, whether it pertains to the thousand years—during which he says both that the Devil is bound and that the saints reign with Christ—or whether this small span is superadded to those same years and is outside them, is rightly a matter of doubt; because, if we say that this pertains to those same years, the kingdom of the saints with Christ will be found to be extended not for so much time, but for a more prolonged one than the Devil is bound. For assuredly the saints with their King will reign even especially in that very persecution, conquering such great evils, when the Devil will no longer be bound, so that he can persecute them with all his forces.

Quo modo ergo ista scriptura eisdem mille annis utrumque determinat, diaboli scilicet alligationem regnumque sanctorum, cum trium annorum et sex mensum interuallo prius desinat alligatio diaboli quam regnum sanctorum in his annis mille cum Christo? Si autem dixerimus paruum persecutionis huius hoc spatium non computandum in mille annis, sed eis impletis potius adiciendum, ut proprie possit intellegi, quod, cum dixisset: Sacerdotes Dei et Christi regnabunt cum eo mille annis, adiecit: Et cum finiti fuerint mille anni, soluetur satanas de custodia sua; isto enim modo et regnum sanctorum et uinculum diaboli simul cessatura esse significat, ut deinde persecutionis illius tempus nec ad sanctorum regnum nec ad custodiam satanae, quorum utrumque in mille annis est, pertinere, sed superadditum et extra computandum esse credatur: cogemur fateri sanctos in illa persecutione regnaturos non esse cum Christo. Sed quis audiat tunc cum illo non regnatura sua membra, quando ei maxime atque fortissime cohaerebunt, et quo tempore, quanto erit acrior impetus belli, tanto maior gloria non cedendi, tanto densior corona martyrii?

How then does that Scripture within the same thousand years determine both, namely the chaining of the devil and the kingdom of the saints, when by an interval of three years and six months the chaining of the devil ends earlier than the kingdom of the saints in those thousand years with Christ? But if we say that this small span of that persecution is not to be reckoned in the thousand years, but rather, once they are fulfilled, to be added, so that it can be properly understood that, when he had said: “The priests of God and of Christ will reign with him a thousand years,” he added: “And when the thousand years have been finished, Satan will be loosed from his custody”; for in this way he signifies that both the kingdom of the saints and the bond of the devil are to cease at the same time, so that thereafter the time of that persecution pertains neither to the kingdom of the saints nor to the custody of Satan, both of which are within the thousand years, but is to be believed superadded and counted as outside: we shall be compelled to admit that the saints in that persecution will not be about to reign with Christ. But who would hear that then his members are not going to reign with him, when they will cleave to him most and most stoutly, and at that time, by how much the onset of the war will be sharper, by so much the greater the glory of not yielding, by so much the denser the crown of martyrdom?

Aut si propter tribulationes, quas passuri sunt, non dicendi sunt regnaturi: consequens erit, ut etiam superioribus diebus in eisdem mille annis, quicumque tribulabantur sanctorum, eo ipso tempore tribulationis suae cum Christo non regnasse dicantur; ac per hoc et illi, quorum animas auctor libri huius uidisse se scribit occisorum propter testimonium Iesu et propter uerbum Dei, non regnabant cum Christo, quando patiebantur persecutionem, et ipsi regnum Christi non erant, quos Christus excellentius possidebat. Absurdissimum id quidem et omni modo auersandum. Sed certe animae uictrices gloriosissimorum martyrum omnibus doloribus ac laboribus superatis atque finitis, postea quam mortalia membra posuerunt, cum Christo utique regnauerunt et regnant, donec finiantur mille anni, ut postea receptis etiam corporibus iam inmortalibus regnent.

Or if, on account of the tribulations which they are going to suffer, they are not to be said to be going to reign: it will follow that even in the earlier days within those same thousand years, whoever among the saints were being afflicted are to be said not to have reigned with Christ at that very time of their tribulation; and thus those too, whose souls the author of this book writes that he saw—of those slain on account of the testimony of Jesus and on account of the word of God—were not reigning with Christ when they were suffering persecution, and they themselves were not the kingdom of Christ, whom Christ was possessing more excellently. That is indeed most absurd and in every way to be shunned. But assuredly the victorious souls of the most glorious martyrs, with all pains and labors overcome and finished, after they have laid down their mortal members, have certainly reigned and do reign with Christ until the thousand years are finished, so that afterwards, their bodies also having been received back, now immortal, they may reign.

Proinde tribus illis annis atque dimidio animae occisorum pro eius martyrio, et quae antea de corporibus exierunt, et quae ipsa nouissima persecutione sunt exiturae, regnabunt cum illo, donec finiatur mortale saeculum et ad illud regnum, ubi mors non erit, transeatur. Quocirca cum Christo regnantium sanctorum plures anni erunt quam uinculi diaboli atque custodiae, quia illi cum suo rege Dei filio iam diabolo non ligato etiam per tres illos annos ac semissem regnabunt. Remanet igitur, ut, cum audimus: Sacerdotes Dei et Christi regnabunt cum eo mille annis, et cum finiti fuerint mille anni, soluetur Satanas de custodia sua, aut non regni huius sanctorum intellegamus annos mille finiri, sed uinculi diaboli atque custodiae, ut annos mille, id est annos omnes suos, quaeque pars habeat diuersis ac propriis prolixitatibus finiendos, ampliore sanctorum regno, breuiore diaboli uinculo; aut certe, quoniam trium annorum et sex mensum breuissimum spatium est, computari noluisse credatur, siue quod minus satanae uinculum, siue quod amplius uidetur regnum habere sanctorum, sicut de quadringentis annis in sexto decimo huius operis uolumine disputaui; quoniam plus aliquid erant, et tamen quadringenti sunt nuncupati; et talia saepe reperiuntur in litteris sacris, si quis aduertat.

Accordingly, in those three years and a half the souls of those slain for his martyrdom—both those which previously went forth from their bodies and those which in that very latest persecution are going to go forth—will reign with him, until the mortal age is finished and there is passage to that kingdom where death will not be. Wherefore the years of the saints reigning with Christ will be more than those of the devil’s bond and custody, because they, with their King, the Son of God, the devil now not bound, will reign even through those three years and a half. It remains, therefore, that when we hear: “The priests of God and of Christ will reign with him a thousand years; and when the thousand years shall have been finished, Satan will be loosed from his custody,” we should either understand that not the thousand years of this reign of the saints are to be finished, but the devil’s bond and custody, so that each part may have its thousand years, that is, all its own years, to be finished with diverse and proper lengths—the kingdom of the saints being more ample, the devil’s bond briefer—or else, since the space of three years and six months is very short, it is to be believed he was unwilling to compute it, either because the bond of Satan is less, or because the kingdom seems to have more for the saints; as I have discussed concerning the 400 years in the 16th book of this work, since they were something more, and yet 400 are denominated; and such things are often found in the sacred letters, if anyone attend.

[XIV] Post hanc autem commemorationem nouissimae persecutionis breuiter complectitur totum, quod ultimo iam iudicio diabolus et cum suo principe ciuitas inimica passura est. Dicit enim: Et diabolus, qui seducebat eos, missus est in stagnum ignis et sulphuris, quo et bestiae et pseudopropheta; et cruciabuntur die et nocte in saecula saeculorum. Bestiam bene intellegi ipsam impiam ciuitatem supra diximus.

[14] After this commemoration of the most recent persecution, he briefly embraces the whole of what, at the final judgment, the devil and the hostile city along with its prince will suffer. For he says: And the devil, who was seducing them, was sent into the lake of fire and sulphur, where also are the beast and the pseudo-prophet; and they will be tormented day and night unto the ages of ages. We said above that the beast is rightly understood to be that impious city itself.

Pseudopropheta uero eius aut Antichristus est aut imago illa, id est figmentum, de quo ibi locuti sumus. Post haec ipsum nouissimum iudicium, quod erit in secunda resurrectione mortuorum, quae corporum est, recapitulando narrans quo modo sibi fuerit reuelatum: Et uidi, inquit, thronum magnum et candidum et sedentem super eum, cuius a facie fugit caelum et terra, et locus eorum inuentus non est. Non ait: "Vidi thronum magnum et candidum et sedentem super eum, et ab eius facie fugit caelum et terra", quoniam non tunc factum est, id est, antequam esset de uiuis et mortuis iudicatum; sed eum se uidisse dixit in throno sedentem, a cuius facie fugit caelum et terra, sed postea.

But its pseudo-prophet is either the Antichrist or that image, that is, the figment, about which we spoke there. After these things, relating in recapitulation how the very last judgment— which will be in the second resurrection of the dead, which is of bodies—had been revealed to him: “And I saw,” he says, “a great and white throne and One sitting upon it, from whose face heaven and earth fled, and their place was not found.” He does not say: “I saw a great and white throne and One sitting upon it, and from his face heaven and earth fled,” because it was not done then, that is, before there had been judgment of the living and the dead; but he said that he saw Him sitting on the throne, from whose face heaven and earth fled, but afterward.

Peracto quippe iudicio, tunc esse desinet hoc caelum et haec terra, quando incipiet esse caelum nouum et terra noua. Mutatione namque rerum, non omni modo interitu transibit hic mundus. Vnde et apostolus dicit: Praeterit enim figura huius mundi, uolo uos sine sollicitudine esse.

For with the judgment completed, then this heaven and this earth will cease to be, when the new heaven and the new earth will begin to be. For by a change (mutation) of things, not by destruction in every way, this world will pass away. Whence also the apostle says: For the figure of this world passes away; I wish you to be without solicitude.

Figura ergo praeterit, non natura. Cum ergo se Iohannes uidisse dixisset sedentem super thronum, cuius a facie, quod postea futurum est, fugit caelum et terra: Et uidi, inquit mortuos magnos et pusillos, et aperti sunt libri; et alius liber apertus est, qui est uitae uniuscuiusque; et iudicati sunt mortui ex ipsis scripturis librorum secundum facta sua. Libros dixit esse apertos et librum; sed librum cuius modi non tacuit: Qui est, inquit, uitae uniuscuiusque.

Therefore the figure passes away, not the nature. When therefore John had said that he saw one sitting upon the throne, from whose face, which will be afterward, heaven and earth fled: And I saw, he says, the dead, great and small, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the life of each and every person; and the dead were judged out of the very writings of the books according to their deeds. He said that books were opened and a book; but he did not keep silent of what sort the book is: Which is, he says, the life of each and every person.

Ergo illi libri, quos priore loco posuit, intellegendi sunt sancti, et ueteres et noui, ut in illis ostenderetur, quae Deus fieri sua mandata iussisset; in illo autem, qui est uitae uniuscuiusque, quid horum quisque non fecisset siue fecisset. Qui liber si carnaliter cogitetur, quis eius magnitudinem aut longitudinem ualeat aestimare? Aut quanto tempore legi poterit liber, in quo scriptae sunt uniuersae uitae uniuersorum?

Therefore those books, which he set in the prior place, are to be understood as the sacred ones, both the Old and the New, so that in them it might be shown what things God had commanded to be done by his mandates; but in that one which is the life of each person, what of these each one had not done or had done. Which book, if it be thought of carnally, who is able to estimate its magnitude or its length? Or in how much time will the book be able to be read, in which the entire lives of all are written?

An tantus angelorum numerus aderit, quantus hominum erit, et uitam suam quisque ab angelo sibi adhibito audiet recitari? Non ergo unus liber erit omnium, sed singuli singulorum. Scriptura uero ista unum uolens intellegi: Et alius, inquit, liber apertus est.

Will so great a number of angels be present as there will be of humans, and will each person hear his life recited by an angel assigned to him? Therefore there will not be one book of all, but single ones for single persons. But this Scripture, wishing one to be understood: “And another,” he says, “book was opened.”

Quaedam igitur uis est intellegenda diuina, qua fiet, ut cuique opera sua, uel bona uel mala, cuncta in memoriam reuocentur et mentis intuitu mira celeritate cernantur, ut accuset uel excuset scientia conscientiam atque ita simul et omnes et singuli iudicentur. Quae nimirum uis diuina libri nomen accepit. In ea quippe quodam modo legitur, quidquid ea faciente recolitur.

Therefore a certain divine power is to be understood, by which it will come to pass that to each person all his own works, whether good or bad, are recalled into memory and, by the mind’s intuition, are discerned with wondrous celerity, so that knowledge may accuse or excuse conscience, and thus at once both all and each are judged. Which divine power, to be sure, has received the name of “book.” For in it, in a certain manner, is read whatever, by its agency, is recollected.

Vt autem ostendat, qui mortui iudicandi sint, pusilli et magni, recapitulando dicit tamquam ad id rediens, quod praeterierat potiusue distulerat: Et exhibuit mortuos mare, qui in eo erant, et mors et infernus reddiderunt mortuos, quos in se habebant. Hoc procul dubio prius factum est, quam essent mortui iudicati; et tamen illud prius dictum est. Hoc est ergo quod dixi, recapitulando eum ad id redisse quod intermiserat.

But in order to show which dead are to be judged, the small and the great, he says by recapitulating, as though returning to that which he had passed over or rather had deferred: And the sea exhibited the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades returned the dead whom they had in themselves. This, without doubt, was done before the dead were judged; and yet that was said first. This, then, is what I said: that by recapitulating he returned to that which he had intermitted.

Nunc autem ordinem tenuit, atque ut explicaretur ipse ordo, commodius etiam de iudicatis mortuis, quod iam dixerat, suo repetiuit loco. Cum enim dixisset: Et exhibuit mortuos mare, qui in eo erant, et mors et infernus reddio derunt mortuos, quos in se habebant; mox addidit quod paulo ante posuerat: Et iudicati sunt singuli secundum facta sua. Hoc est enim quod supra dixerat: Et iudicati sunt mortui secundum facta sua.

Now however he kept the order, and, that the order itself might be unfolded, he more conveniently also repeated, in its own place, about the judged dead what he had already said. For when he had said: “And the sea exhibited the dead who were in it, and death and hell gave back the dead whom they had in themselves;” he straightway added what he had set a little before: “And individuals were judged according to their deeds.” For this is what he had said above: “And the dead were judged according to their deeds.”

[XV] Sed qui sunt mortui, quos exhibuit mare, qui in eo erant? Neque enim qui in mari moriuntur, non sunt in inferno, aut corpora, eorum seruantur in mari, aut, quod est absurdius, mare habebat bonos mortuos et infernus malos. Quis hoc putauerit?

[15] But who are the dead whom the sea exhibited, who were in it? For it is not the case that those who die in the sea are not in the inferno, or that their bodies are preserved in the sea, or—what is more absurd—that the sea held the good dead and the inferno the bad. Who would have thought this?

Sed profecto conuenienter quidam hoc loco mare pro isto saeculo positum accipiunt. Cum ergo et quos hic inueniet Christus in corpore constitutos simul significaret cum eis, qui resurrecturi sunt,udicandos, etiam ipsos mortuos appellauit, et bonos, quibus dicitur: Mortui enim estis, et uita uestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo, et malos, de quibus dicitur: Sine mortuos sepelire mortuos suos. Possunt mortui etiam propter hoc dici, quod mortalia gerunt corpora; unde apostolus: Corpus quidem, inquit, mortuum est propter peccatum; spiritus autem uita est propter iustitiam, utrumque in homine uiuente atque in hoc corpore constituto esse demonstrans, et corpus mortuum et spiritum uitam.

But indeed, suitably, some in this place take the sea as put for this age. Since therefore he indicated that both those whom Christ will find here established in the body, together with those who are going to resurrect, are to be judged, he also called these themselves “the dead,” both the good, to whom it is said: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God, and the evil, of whom it is said: Leave the dead to bury their own dead. They can also be called “dead” for this reason, that they bear mortal bodies; whence the Apostle: The body indeed, he says, is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness, demonstrating that both are in the living man and constituted in this body: both a dead body and the spirit life.

Nec tamen dixit corpus mortale, sed mortuum, quamuis eadem paulo post etiam mortalia corpora, sicut usitatius uocantur, appellet. Hos ergo mortuos exhibuit mare, qui in eo erant, id est, exhibuit homines hoc saeculum, quicumque in eo erant, quia nondum obierant. Et mors et infernus, inquit, reddiderunt mortuos, quos in se habebant.

Nor, however, did he say “mortal body,” but “dead,” although a little later he also calls the same “mortal bodies,” as they are more commonly named. Therefore the sea brought forth these dead who were in it, that is, this age brought forth the men, whoever were in it, because they had not yet died. And “death and hell,” he says, “rendered the dead whom they had in themselves.”

Mare exhibuit, quia, sicut inuenti sunt, adfuerunt; mors uero et infernus reddiderunt, quoniam uitae, de qua iam exierant, reuocarunt. Nec frustra fortasse non satis fuit ut diceret mors aut infernus, sed utrumque dictum est: mors propter bonos, qui tantummodo mortem perpeti potuerunt, non et infernum; infernus autem propter malos, qui etiam poenas apud inferos pendunt. Si enim non absurde credi uidetur antiquos etiam sanctos, qui uenturi Christi tenuerunt fidem, locis quidem a tormentis impiorum remotissimis, sed apud inferos fuisse, donec eos inde Christi sanguis et ad ea loca descensus erueret, profecto deinceps boni fideles effuso illo pretio iam redempti prorsus inferos nesciunt, donec etiam receptis corporibus bona recipiant, quae merentur.

The sea exhibited them, because, just as they were found, they were present; but death and the underworld returned them, since they recalled them to the life from which they had already departed. Nor perhaps was it in vain that it did not suffice to say “death” or “the underworld,” but both were said: death on account of the good, who could undergo death only, not also the underworld; but the underworld on account of the evil, who also pay penalties in the underworld. For if it seems not absurd to be believed that even the ancients who were saints, who held the faith of the Christ to come, were indeed among the underworld, in places farthest removed from the torments of the impious, until Christ’s blood and his descent to those places extricated them from there, surely thereafter the good faithful, already redeemed by the pouring-out of that price, know nothing of the underworld at all, until, their bodies also received back, they receive the good things which they deserve.

Cum autem dixisset: Et iudicati sunt singuli secundum facta sua, breuiter subiecit, quem ad modum fuerint iudicati: Et mors et infernus, inquit, missi sunt in stagnum ignis, his nominibus significans diabolum, quoniam mortis est auctor infernarumque poenarum, uniuersamque simul daemonum societatem. Hoc est enim quod supra euidentius praeoccupando iam dixerat: Et diabolus, qui seducebat eos, missus est in stagnum ignis et sulphuris. Quod uero ibi obscurius adiunxerat dicens: Quo et bestia et pseudopropheta, hic apertius: Et qui non sunt, inquit, inuenti in libro uitae scripti, missi sunt in stagnum ignis.

But when he had said: “And they were judged, each one according to their deeds,” he briefly subjoined in what manner they had been judged: “And Death and Hades,” he says, “were sent into the lake of fire,” by these names signifying the devil, since he is the author of death and of infernal punishments, and the whole fellowship of demons together. For this is what above he had already said more plainly by anticipation: “And the devil, who was seducing them, was sent into the lake of fire and sulphur.” But what there he had added more obscurely, saying: “where both the beast and the pseudoprophet [are],” here more openly: “And those who are not found written in the book of life,” he says, “were sent into the lake of fire.”

Non Deum liber iste commemorat, ne obliuione fallatur; sed praedestinationem significat eorum, quibus aeterna dabitur uita. Neque enim nescit eos Deus et in hoc libro legitur, ut sciat; sed potius ipsa eius praescientia de illis, quae falli non potest, liber est uitae, in quo sunt scripti, id est ante praecogniti.

This book does not commemorate God, lest He be tripped up by oblivion; but it signifies the predestination of those to whom eternal life will be given. For God is not ignorant of them, nor is He read in this book so that He may know; rather His very prescience concerning them—which cannot be deceived—is the book of life, in which they are written, that is, foreknown beforehand.

[XVI] Finito autem iudicio, quo praenuntiauit iudicandos malos, restat ut etiam de bonis dicat. Iam enim explicauit quos breuiter a Domino dictum est: Sic ibunt isti in supplicium aeternum; sequitur ut explicet, quod etiam ibi conectitur: Iusti autem in uitam aeternam. Et uidi, inquit, caelum nouum et terram nouam.

[16] With the judgment finished, by which he preannounced that the wicked were to be judged, it remains that he also speak about the good. For he has now explicated those about whom it was briefly said by the Lord: “Thus shall these go into eternal punishment”; it follows that he should explicate what is also connected there: “but the just into eternal life.” And he says, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”

Nam primum caelum et terra recesserunt, et mare iam non est. Isto fiet ordine, quod superius praeoccupando iam dixit, uidisse se super thronum sedentem, cuius a facie fugit caelum et terra. Iudicatis quippe his, qui scripti non sunt in libro uitae, et in aeternum ignem missis (qui ignis cuius modi et in qua mundi uel rerum parte futurus sit, hominem scire arbitror neminem, nisi forte cui Spiritus diuinus ostendit), tunc figura huius mundi mundanorum ignium conflagratione praeteribit, sicut factum est mundanarum aquarum inundatione diluuium.

For first heaven and earth have receded, and the sea is now no more. In this order it will happen, which above, by anticipating, he already said: that he saw One sitting upon the throne, from whose face heaven and earth fled. For after those who are not written in the book of life have been judged and sent into the eternal fire (which fire, of what sort and in what part of the world or of things it will be, I think no man knows, unless perhaps the divine Spirit has shown it), then the figure of this world will pass away by the conflagration of mundane fires, just as there was a deluge by the inundation of mundane waters.

Illa itaque, ut dixi, conflagratione mundana elementorum corruptibilium qualitates, quae corporibus nostris corruptibilibus congruebant, ardendo penitus interibunt, atque ipsa substantia eas qualitates habebit, quae corporibus inmortalibus mirabili mutatione conueniant; ut scilicet mundus in melius innouatus apte adcommodetur hominibus etiam carne in melius innouatis. Quod autem ait: Et mare iam non est; utrum maximo illo ardore siccetur an et ipsum uertatur in melius, non facile dixerim. Caelum quippe nouum et terram nouam futuram legimus, de mari autem nouo aliquid me uspiam legisse non recolo; nisi quod in hoc eodem libro reperitur: Tamquam mare uitreum simile crystallo . Sed tunc non de isto fine saeculi loquebatur, nec proprie dixisse uidetur mare, sed tamquam mare.

Therefore that conflagration of the world, as I said, will cause the qualities of the corruptible elements, which were congruent with our corruptible bodies, to perish utterly by burning, and the substance itself will have those qualities which by a wondrous mutation are fitting to immortal bodies; so that the world, renewed for the better, may be aptly accommodated to humans also renewed for the better even in the flesh. But as for what he says: And the sea is now no more; whether by that very great heat it be dried up, or even itself be turned for the better, I would not easily say. For we read that a new heaven and a new earth will be, but that I have read anywhere about a new sea I do not recall; except that in this same book there is found: As it were a glassy sea like crystal . But then he was not speaking of this end of the age, nor does he seem to have said “sea” properly, but “as it were a sea.”

Quamuis et nunc, sicut amat prophetica locutio propriis uerbis translata miscere ac sic quodam modo uelare quod dicitur, potuit de illo mari dicere: Et mare iam non est, de quo supra dixerat: Et exhibuit mortuos mare, qui in eo erant. Iam enim tunc non erit hoc saeculum uita mortalium turbulentum et procellosum, quod maris nomine figurauit.

Although even now, as prophetic locution, transferred into its own proper words, loves to mingle things and thus in a certain way to veil what is said, it could have said about that sea, “And the sea is now no more,” about which above he had said, “And the sea exhibited the dead who were in it.” For by then this age—the turbulent and tempestuous life of mortals, which he has figured by the name of the sea—will no longer be.

[XVII] Et ciuitatem, inquit, magnam Hierusalem nouam uidi descendentem de caelo a Deo, aptatam, quasi nouam nuptam ornatam marito suo. Et audiui uocem magnam de throno dicentem. Ecce tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus, et habitabit cum eis, et erunt ipsi populus eius, et ipse Deus erit cum eis.

[17] And the city, says he, the great New Jerusalem, I saw descending from heaven from God, prepared as a new bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne saying. Behold the tabernacle of God with humans, and he will dwell with them, and they themselves will be his people, and God himself will be with them.

Et absterget omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum; et mors iam non erit neque luctus neque clamor, sed nec dolor ullus, quia priora abierunt. Et dixit sedens in throno: Ecce noua facio omnia. De caelo descendere ista ciuitas dicitur, quoniam caelestis est gratia, qua Deus eam fecit.

And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will be no more, nor lamentation nor clamor, nor yet any pain, because the former things have gone away. And the one sitting on the throne said: Behold, I make all things new. This city is said to descend from heaven, because the grace by which God made it is celestial.

Propter quod ei dicit etiam per Esaiam: Ego sum Dominus faciens te. Et de caelo quidem ab initio sui descendit, ex quo per huius saeculi tempus gratia Dei desuper ueniente per lauacrum regenerationis in Spiritu sancto misso de caelo subinde ciues eius adcrescunt. Sed per iudicium Dei, quod erit nouissimum per eius filium Iesum Christum, tanta eius et tam noua de Dei munere claritas apparebit, ut nulla remaneant uestigia uetustatis; quando quidem et corpora ad incorruptionem atque inmortalitatem nouam ex uetere corruptione ac mortalitate transibunt. Nam hoc de isto tempore accipere, quo regnat cum rege suo mille annis, inpudentiae nimiae mihi uidetur, cum apertissime dicat: Absterget omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum; et mors iam non erit neque luctus neque clamor, sed nec dolor ullus.

For which reason he says to her also through Isaiah: I am the Lord making you. And from heaven indeed she descended from her beginning, from which time, through the time of this age, with the grace of God coming from above, through the laver of regeneration in the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, her citizens are from time to time increased. But through the judgment of God, which will be the last, through his Son Jesus Christ, so great and so new a splendor of her, from the gift of God, will appear that no traces of oldness remain; since indeed even bodies will pass over to incorruption and to new immortality from former corruption and mortality. For to take this as referring to that time, in which she reigns with her king for a thousand years, seems to me of excessive impudence, since he says most openly: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will be no more, nor mourning nor outcry, but neither any pain.

Quis uero tam sit absurdus et obstinatissima contentione uesanus, qui audeat adfirmare in huius mortalitatis aerumnis, non dico populum sanctum, sed unumquemque sanctorum, qui hanc uel ducat uel ducturus sit uel duxerit uitam, nullas habentem lacrimas et dolores; cum potius quanto est quisque sanctior et desiderii sancti plenior, tanto sit eius in orando fletus uberior? An non est uox ciuis supernae Hierusalem: Factae sunt mihi lacrimae meae panis die ac nocte, et: Lauabo per singulas noctes lectum meum, in lacrimis meis stratum meum rigabo, et: Gemitus meus non est absconditus a te, et: Dolor meus renouatus est? Aut uero non eius filii sunt, qui ingemescunt grauati, in quo nolunt spoliari, sed superuest i, ut absorbeatur mortale hoc a uita?

Who indeed is so absurd and, in most obstinate contention, insane as to dare to affirm that in the miseries of this mortality—not to say the holy people, but each one of the saints who either leads, or is going to lead, or has led this life—there are no tears and pains; whereas rather, the holier anyone is and the fuller of holy desire, by so much the more abundant is his weeping in prayer? Is it not the voice of a citizen of the supernal Jerusalem: “My tears have been made my bread by day and by night,” and: “I will wash my bed through each night; with my tears I will water my couch,” and: “My groaning is not hidden from you,” and: “My pain has been renewed”? Or truly are they not its sons who “groan, being burdened, in that they do not wish to be unclothed, but to be overclothed, so that this mortal may be swallowed up by life”?

Nonne ipsi sunt, qui primitias habentes Spiritus in semet ipsis ingemescunt, adoptionem expectantes, redemptionem corporis sui? An ipse apostolus Paulus non erat supernus Hierosolymitanus, uel non multo magis hoc erat, quando pro Israelitis carnalibus fratribus suis tristitia illi erat magna et continuus dolor cordi eius? Quando autem mors non erit in ista ciuitate, nisi quando dicetur: Vbi est, mors, contentio tua?

Are they not the very ones who, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within themselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of their body? Or was not the apostle Paul himself a citizen of the supernal Jerusalem, or was he not much more so, when on behalf of the Israelites, his carnal brothers, there was for him great sorrow and a continual pain in his heart? And when will death not be in that city, except when it shall be said: Where is, O death, your contention?

Vbi est, mors, aculeus tuus? Aculeus autem mortis est peccatum. Quod tunc utique non erit, quando dicetur: Vbi est?

Where is, O death, your sting? But the sting of death is sin. Which then assuredly will not be, when it shall be said: Where is?

Nunc uero non quilibet infirmus ciuis illius ciuitatis, sed idem ipse Iohannes in epistula sua clamat: Si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos seducimus et ueritas in nobis non est. Et in hoc quidem libro, cuius nomen est apocalypsis, obscure multa dicuntur, ut mentem legentis exerceant, et pauca in eo sunt, ex quorum manifestatione indagentur cetera cum labore; maxime quia sic eadem multis modis repetit, ut alia atque alia dicere uideatur, cum aliter atque aliter haec ipsa dicere uestigetur. Verum in his uerbis, ubi ait: Absterget omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum, et mors iam non erit neque luctus neque clamor, sed nec dolor ullus, tanta luce dicta sunt de saeculo futuro et de inmortalitate atque aeternitate sanctorum (tunc enim solum atque ibi solum ista non erunt), ut nulla debeamus in litteris sacris quaerere uel legere manifesta, si haec putauerimus obscura.

Now indeed, not just any infirm citizen of that city, but John himself in his epistle cries out: “If we shall say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” And in this book, whose name is Apocalypse, many things are said obscurely, to exercise the mind of the reader, and there are few things in it, from the manifestation of which the rest are investigated with labor; especially because it so repeats the same things in many ways that it seems to be saying one thing and then another, while it is tracked as saying these very things now in one way, now in another. But in these words, where he says: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, nor mourning nor clamor, nay, nor any pain,” such things are said with so great a light about the future age and about the immortality and eternity of the saints (for then only and there only will these things not be), that we ought not to seek or read anything manifest in the sacred letters, if we have judged these to be obscure.

[XVIII] Nunc iam uideamus, quid etiam apostolus Petrus de hoc iudicio scripserit: Venient, inquit, in nouissimo dierum inlusione inludentes, secundum proprias concupiscentias suas euntes et dicentes: Vbi est promissum praesentiae ipsius? Ex quo enim patres dormierunt, sic omnia perseuerant ab initio creaturae. Latet enim illos hoc uolentes, quia caeli erant olim et terra de aqua, et per aquam constituta Dei uerbo, per quae, qui tunc erat mundus, aqua inundatus deperiit.

[18] Now at this point let us see what even the apostle Peter wrote about this judgment: There shall come, he says, in the last days scoffers scoffing, going according to their own concupiscences and saying: Where is the promise of his presence? For from the time that the fathers fell asleep, thus all things persist from the beginning of creation. For this lies hidden from them, as they wish it, that the heavens existed of old, and the earth out of water and through water, established by the word of God; through which the world that then was, having been inundated with water, perished.

Qui autem nunc sunt caeli et terra, eodem uerbo repositi sunt, igni reseruandi in diem iudicii et perditionis hominum impiorum. Hoc unum uero non lateat uos, carissimi, quia unus dies apud Dominum sicut mille anni et mille anni sicut dies unus. Non tardat Dominus promissum, sicut quidam tarditatem existimant; sed patienter fert propter uos, nolens aliquem perire, sed omnes in paenitentiam conuerti.

But the heavens and the earth that now are, by the same word have been laid up, reserved for fire for the day of judgment and perdition of impious men. But let this one thing not escape you, dearest, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about the promise, as some esteem slowness; but he bears patiently on your account, not willing that anyone perish, but that all be converted to repentance.

Veniet autem dies Domini ut fur, in quo caeli magno impetu transcurrent, elementa autem ardentia resoluentur et terra et quae in ipsa sunt opera exurentur. His ergo omnibus pereuntibus quales oportet esse uos in sanctis conuersationibus expectantes et properantes ad praesentiam diei Domini, per quam caeli ardentes soluentur et elementa ignis ardore decoquentur? Nouos uero caelos et terram nouam secundum promissa ipsius expectamus, in quibus iustitia inhabitat.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will speed by with great impetus, and the burning elements will be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, with all these things perishing, what sort ought you to be in holy conduct, expecting and hastening to the presence of the day of the Lord, through which the burning heavens will be loosed, and the elements will be melted by the ardor of fire? But new heavens and a new earth, according to his promises, we await, in which justice inhabits.

Nihil hic dixit de resurrectione mortuorum, sed sane de perditione mundi huius satis. Vbi etiam commemorans factum ante diluuium uidetur admonuisse quodam modo, quatenus in fine huius saeculi mundum istum periturum esse credamus. Nam et illo tempore perisse dixit, qui tunc erat, mundum; nec solum orbem terrae, uerum etiam caelos, quos utique istos aerios intellegimus, quorum locum ac spatium tunc aqua crescendo superauerat.

He said nothing here about the resurrection of the dead, but certainly enough about the perdition of this world. Where also, by commemorating what was done before the deluge, he seems in a certain manner to have admonished, to this extent: that at the end of this age we should believe that this world is going to perish. For he said that at that time the world which then was also perished; and not only the orb of the earth, but even the heavens, which we surely understand as these airy ones, whose place and expanse the water, by swelling, then surpassed.

Ergo totus aut paene totus aer iste uentosus (quod caelum uel potius caelos uocat, sed utique istos imos, non illos supremos, ubi sol et luna et sidera constituta sunt) conuersus fuerat in umidam qualitatem atque hoc modo cum terra perierat, cuius terrae utique prior facies fuerat deleta diluuio. Qui autem nunc sunt, inquit, caeli et terra, eodem uerbo repositi sunt, igni reseruandi in diem iudicii et perditionis homo num impiorum. Proinde qui caeli et quae terra, id est, qui, mundus pro eo mundo, qui diluuio periit, ex eadem aqua repositus est, ipse igni nouissimo reseruatur in diem iudicii et perditionis hominum impiorum.

Therefore the whole or almost the whole of this airy region, windy (which he calls “heaven,” or rather “heavens,” but assuredly these lowest ones, not those highest ones where the sun and moon and stars are set) had been converted into a moist quality, and in this way perished along with the earth, whose earlier face, to be sure, had been blotted out by the deluge. But “the heavens and the earth which now are,” he says, “have been laid up by the same word, to be reserved for fire unto the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Accordingly, the which heavens and which earth—that is, the world in place of that world which perished by the deluge—having been set in store from the same water, this very one is reserved for the ultimate fire unto the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Nam et hominum propter magnam quandam commutationem non dubitat dicere perditionem futuram, cum tamen eorum quamuis in aeternis poenis sit mansura natura. Quaerat forsitan aliquis, si post factum iudicium iste mundus ardebit, antequam pro illo caelum nouum et terra noua reponatur, eo ipso tempore conflagrationis eius ubi erunt sancti, cum eos habentes corpora in aliquo corporali loco esse necesse sit. Possumus respondere futuros eos esse in superioribus partibus, quo ita non ascendet flamma illius incendii, quem ad modum nec unda diluuii.

For he does not hesitate to say that there will be a perdition of human beings on account of a certain great commutation, although their nature will abide, albeit in eternal punishments. Perhaps someone may ask, if, after the judgment has been rendered, this world will burn before a new heaven and a new earth are set in its place, at that very time of its conflagration where the saints will be, since, as having bodies, it is necessary for them to be in some corporeal place. We can answer that they will be in the higher regions, to which the flame of that fire will not thus ascend, in the same way as neither did the wave of the deluge.

Talia quippe illis inerunt corpora, ut illic sint, ubi esse uoluerint. Sed nec ignem conflagrationis illius pertimescent inmortales atque incorruptibiles facti, si uirorum trium corruptibilia corpora atque mortalia in camino ardenti inlaesa uiuere potuerunt. [XIX] Multas euangelicas apostolicasque sententias de diuino isto iudicio nouissimo uideo mihi esse praetereundas, ne hoc uolumen in nimiam longitudinem prouoluatur; sed nullo modo est praetereundus apostolus Paulus, qui scribens ad Thessalonicenses: Rogamus, inquit, uos, fratres, per aduentum Domini nostri Iesu Christi et nostrae congregationis in ipsum, ut non cito moueamini mente neque terreamini neque per spiritum neque per uerbum neque per epistulam tamquam per nos, quasi instet dies Domini, ne quos uos seducat ullo modo; quoniam nisi uenerit refuga primum et reuelatus fuerit homo peccati, filius interitus, qui aduersatur et superextollitur supra omne, quod dicitur Deus aut quod colitur, ita ut in templo Dei sedeat, ostentans se tamquam sit Deus.

Indeed they will have such bodies, that they will be there where they will have wished to be. But nor will they dread the fire of that conflagration, having been made immortal and incorruptible, if the corruptible and mortal bodies of three men were able to live unharmed in the burning furnace. [19] I see that many evangelical and apostolic sentences about that divine last judgment must be passed over by me, lest this volume be rolled out into excessive length; but by no means is the apostle Paul to be passed over, who, writing to the Thessalonians: We ask you, brothers, by the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ and our congregation into him, that you be not quickly moved in mind nor terrified, neither by a spirit nor by a word nor by an epistle as though from us, as if the day of the Lord were imminent, lest anyone should seduce you in any way; because unless the revolt first shall have come and the man of sin shall have been revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and is super-exalted above everything that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God, exhibiting himself as though he were God.

Non retinetis in memoria, quod adhuc cum essem apud uos haec dicebantur uobis? et nunc quid detineat scitis, ut reueletur in suo tempore. Iam enim mysterium iniquitatis operatur.

Do you not retain in memory that, while I was still with you, these things were being said to you? And now you know what restrains, so that he may be revealed in his own time. For already the mystery of iniquity is operating.

Tantum qui modo tenet teneat, donec de medio fiat; et tunc reuelabitur iniquus, quem Dominus Iesus interficiet spiritu oris sui, et euacuabit inluminatione praesentiae suae eum, cuius est praesentia secundum operationem satanae, in omni uirtute et signis et prodigiis mendacii et, in omni seductione iniquitatis his, qui pereunt, pro eo, quod dilectionem ueritatis non receperunt, ut salui fierent. Et ideo mittet illis Deus operationem erroris, ut credant mendacio et iudicentur omnes, quo non crediderunt ueritati, sed consenserunt iniquitati.

Only the one who now holds back let him hold back, until he be taken out of the midst; and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of his mouth, and will void by the illumination of his presence him whose presence is according to the operation of Satan, in all power and signs and prodigies of falsehood, and in all seduction of iniquity for those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And therefore God will send to them an operation of error, that they may believe the lie, and that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but consented to iniquity.

Nulli dubium est eum de Antichristo ista dixisse, diemque iudicii (hunc enim appellat diem Domini) non esse uenturum, nisi ille prior uenerit, quem refugam uocat, utique a Domino Deo. Quod si de omnibus impiis merito dici potest, quanto magis de isto! Sed in quo templo Dei sit sessurus, incertum est; utrum in illa ruina templi, quod a Salomone rege constructum est, an uero in ecclesia.

No one doubts that he said these things about the Antichrist, and that the day of judgment (for he calls this the day of the Lord) is not going to come, unless that one shall have come first, whom he calls a runaway, namely from the Lord God. And if this can deservedly be said of all the impious, how much more of this man! But in which temple of God he is going to sit is uncertain; whether in that ruin of the temple which was constructed by King Solomon, or indeed in the Church.

Non enim templum alicuius idoli aut daemonis templum Dei apostolus diceret. Vnde nonnulli non ipsum principem, sed uniuersum quodam modo corpus eius, id est ad eum pertinentem hominum multitudinem, simul cum ipso suo principe hoc loco intellegi Antichristum uolunt; rectiusque putant etiam Latine dici, sicut in Graeco est, non in templo Dei, sed in templum Dei sedeat, tamquam ipse sit templum Dei, quod est ecclesia; sicut dicimus: "Sedet in amicum", id est uelut amicus, uel si quid aliud isto locutionis genere dici solet. Quod autem ait: Et nunc quid detineat scitis, id est, quid sit in mora, quae causa sit dilationis eius, ut reueletur in suo tempore, scitis: quoniam scire illos dixit, aperte hoc dicere noluit.

For the apostle would not call the temple of some idol or of a demon the temple of God. Whence certain persons want not the prince himself, but, in a certain way, his whole body—that is, the multitude of human beings belonging to him—together with his own prince, to be understood in this place as the Antichrist; and they think it more correct also in Latin, as it is in Greek, to say not “in the temple of God,” but “as temple of God let him sit,” as though he himself were the temple of God, which is the Church; just as we say: “He sits in amicum,” that is, as if a friend, or whatever else is wont to be said by this kind of locution. But as to what he says: “And now you know what restrains,” that is, what is in delay, what the cause of his dilatio is, that he may be revealed in his own time, you know: since he said that they knew, he did not wish to say this openly.

Et ideo nos, qui nescimus quod illi sciebant, peruenire cum labore ad id, quod sensit apostolus, cupimus nec ualemus; praesertim quia et illa, quae addidit, hunc sensum faciunt obscuriorem. Nam quid est: Iam enim mysterium iniquitatis operatur. Tantum qui modo tenet teneat, donec de medio fiat; et tunc reuelabitur iniquus?

And therefore we, who do not know what they knew, desire with labor to arrive at that which the apostle sensed, and we are not able; especially because even those things which he added make this meaning more obscure. For what is: “For already the mystery of iniquity is at work. Only he who now holds, let him hold, until he be taken out of the midst; and then the iniquitous one will be revealed”?

Ego prorsus quid dixerit me fateor ignorare. Suspiciones tamen hominum, quas uel audire uel legere potui, non tacebo.

I frankly confess that I am utterly ignorant of what he said. Nevertheless, I will not be silent about the suspicions of men, which I have been able either to hear or to read.

Quidam putant hoc de imperio dictum fuisse Romano, et propterea Paulum apostolum non id aperte scribere uoluisse, ne calumniam uidelicet incurreret, quod Romano imperio male optauerit, cum speraretur aeternum; ut hoc quod dixit: Iam enim mysterium iniquitatis operatur, Neronem uoluerit intellegi, cuius iam facta uelut Antichristi uidebantur. Vnde nonnulli ipsum resurrecturum et futurum Antichristum suspicantur; alii uero nec occisum putant, sed subtractum potius, ut putaretur occisus, et uiuum occultari in uigore ipsius aetatis, in qua fuit, cum crederetur extinctus, donec suo tempore reueletur et restituatur in regnum. Sed multum mihi mira est haec opinantium tanta praesumptio.

Some think that this was said about the Roman Empire, and for that reason the apostle Paul did not wish to write it openly, lest he incur, evidently, calumny, to the effect that he had wished ill to the Roman Empire, since it was hoped to be eternal; so that in this which he said: For already the mystery of iniquity is at work, he wished Nero to be understood, whose deeds already seemed as it were those of Antichrist. Whence some suspect that he himself will be resurrected and will be the future Antichrist; others indeed do not think him slain, but rather withdrawn, so that he might be thought slain, and that, alive, he is being hidden in the vigor of that very age in which he was when he was believed to have perished, until in his own time he is revealed and restored to the kingdom. But this so great presumption of the opinionators is very astonishing to me.

Illud tamen, quod ait apostolus: Tantum qui modo tenet teneat, donec de medio fiat, non absurde de ipso Romano imperio creditur dictum, tamquam dictum sit: "Tantum qui modo imperat imperet, donec de medio fiat", id est de medio tollatur. Et tunc reuelabitur iniquus, quem significari Antichristum nullus ambigit. Alii uero et quod ait: Quid detineat scitis et mysterium operari iniquitatis non putant dictum nisi de malis et fictis, qui sunt in ecclesia, donec perueniant ad tantum numerum, qui Antichristo magnum populum faciat; et hoc esse mysterium iniquitatis, quia uidetur occultum; hortari autem apostolum fideles, ut in fide quam tenent tenaciter perseuerent, dicendo: Tantum qui modo tenet teneat, donec de medio fiat, hoc est, donec exeat de medio ecclesiae mysterium iniquitatis, quod nunc occultum est.

Nevertheless, that which the apostle says: Only let him who now holds hold, until he be taken out of the way, is not absurdly believed to have been said about the Roman empire itself, as though it were said: "Only let him who now rules rule, until he be taken out of the way," that is, be removed out of the midst. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom no one doubts is signified as the Antichrist. Others, however, do not think that what he also says, You know what restrains, and that the mystery of iniquity is at work, is said except of the evil and the feigned who are in the church, until they come to such a number as to make for the Antichrist a great people; and that this is the mystery of iniquity, because it appears hidden; moreover, that the apostle exhorts the faithful to persevere tenaciously in the faith which they hold, by saying: Only let him who now holds hold, until it be taken out of the midst, that is, until the mystery of iniquity go out from the midst of the church, which is now hidden.

Ad ipsum enim mysterium pertinere arbitrantur, quod ait in epistula sua Iohannes euangelista: Puero, nouissima hora est; et sicut audistis, quod Antichristus sit uenturus, nunc autem Antichristi multi facti sunt; unde cognoscimus quod nouissima sit hora. Ex nobis exierunt; sed non erant ex nobis. Quod si fuissent ex nobis, permansissent utique nobiscum.

For they judge that it pertains to the mystery itself, which John the Evangelist says in his epistle: “Little children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the Antichrist is to come, now moreover many Antichrists have come to be; whence we know that it is the last hour. From us they went out; but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us.”

Sicut ergo ante finem in hac hora, inquiunt, quam Iohannes nouissimam dicit, exierunt multi haeretici de medio ecclesiae, quos multos dicit Antichristos: ita omnes tunc inde exibunt, qui non ad Christum, sed ad illum nouissimum Antichristum pertinebunt, et tunc reuelabitur.

Thus, before the end, in this hour, they say, which John calls the last, many heretics went out from the midst of the Church, whom he calls many Antichrists: so then at that time all will go out from there who pertain not to Christ but to that most-last Antichrist, and then he will be revealed.

Alius ergo sic, alius autem sic apostoli obscura uerba coniectat; quod tamen eum dixisse non dubium est: non ueniet ad uiuos et mortuos iudicandos Christus, nisi prius uenerit ad seducendos in anima mortuos aduersarius eius Antichristus; quamuis ad occultum iam iudicium Dei pertineat, quod ab illo seducentur. Praesentia quippe eius erit, sicut dictum est, secundum operationem satanae in omni uirtute et signis et prodigiis mendacii et in omni seductione iniquitatis his, qui pereunt. Tunc enim soluetur satanas et per illum Antichristum in omni sua uirtute mirabiliter quidem, sed mendaciter operabitur.

One, then, conjectures the apostle’s obscure words in this way, another in that; yet that he said this is not doubtful: Christ will not come to judge the living and the dead, unless first his adversary Antichrist shall have come to seduce those dead in soul; although it already pertains to the hidden judgment of God that they will be seduced by him. For his presence will be, as it has been said, according to the operation of Satan, in every power and in signs and prodigies of lying, and in every seduction of iniquity for those who are perishing. For then Satan will be loosed, and through that Antichrist he will operate in all his power, wondrously indeed, but mendaciously.

Quae solet ambigi utrum propterea dicta sint signa et prodigia mendacii, quoniam mortales sensus per phantasmata decepturus est, ut quod non facit facere uideatur, an quia illa ipsa, etiamsi erunt uera prodigia, ad mendacium pertrahent credituros non ea potuisse nisi diuinitus fieri, uirtutem diaboli nescientes, maxime quando tantam, quantam numquam habuit, acceperit potestatem. Non enim quando de caelo ignis cecidit et tantam familiam cum tantis gregibus pecorum sancti Iob uno impetu absumpsit et turbo inruens et domum deiciens filios eius occidit, phantasmata fuerunt; quae tamen fuerunt opera satanae, cui Deus dederat hanc potestatem. Propter quid horum ergo dicta sint prodigia et signa mendacii, tunc potius apparebit.

Which is wont to be disputed, whether for this reason they are called signs and prodigies of mendacity, because he is going to deceive mortal senses through phantasms, so that he may seem to do what he does not do, or because those very things, even if they will be true prodigies, will draw into falsehood those who will believe that they could not have been done except divinely, not knowing the power of the devil, especially when he shall have received so great a power as he never had. For when fire fell from heaven and in a single impetus consumed so great a household with so great flocks of the cattle of holy Job, and a whirlwind rushing in and casting down the house killed his sons, they were not phantasms; yet these were works of Satan, to whom God had given this power. For which of these reasons, then, they have been called prodigies and signs of mendacity will appear rather at that time.

Sed propter quodlibet horum dictum sit, seducentur eis signis atque prodigiis, qui seduci merebuntur, pro eo quod dilectionem, inquit, ueritatis non receperunt, ut salui fierent. Nec dubitauit apostolus addere ac dicere: Ideo mittet illis Deus operationem erroris ut credant mendacio. Deus enim mittet, quia Deus diabolum facere ista permittet, iusto ipse iudicio, quamuis faciat ille iniquo malignoque consilio.

But for whichever of these reasons it was said, by those signs and prodigies they will be seduced, who will deserve to be seduced, on the ground that, he says, they did not receive the love of truth, that they might be saved. Nor did the apostle hesitate to add and say: Therefore God will send them an operation of error, that they may believe the lie. For God will send, because God will permit the devil to do these things, by his own just judgment, although that one does them by iniquitous and malign counsel.

Vt iudicentur, inquit, omnes, qui non crediderunt ueritati, sed consenserunt iniquitati. Proinde iudicati seducentur et seducti iudicabuntur. Sed iudicati seducentur illis iudiciis Dei occulte iustis, iuste occultis, quibus ab initio peccati rationalis creaturae numquam iudicare cessauit; seducti autem iudicabuntur nouissimo manifestoque iudicio per Christum Iesum, iustissime iudicaturum, iniustissime iudicatum.

“That all may be judged,” he says, “who did not believe the truth but consented to iniquity.” Accordingly, those judged will be seduced, and those seduced will be judged. But those judged will be seduced by those judgments of God—secretly just, justly secret—by which, from the beginning of the sin of the rational creature, He has never ceased to judge; but the seduced will be judged by the final and manifest judgment through Christ Jesus, who will most justly judge, having been most unjustly judged.

[XX] Sed hic apostolus tacuit de resurrectione mortuorum; ad eosdem autem scribens in epistula prima: Nolumus, inquit, ignorare uos, fratres, de dormientibus, ut non contristemini, sicut et ceteri, qui spem non habent. Nam si credimus, quod Iesus mortuus est et resurrexit: ita et Deus eos, qui dormierunt per Iesum, adducet cum illo. Hoc enim uobis dicimus in uerbo Domini, quia nos uiuentes, qui reliqui sumus in aduentum Domini, non praeueniemus eos, qui ante dormierunt; quoniam ipse Dominus in iussu et in uoce archangeli et in tuba Dei descendet de caelo, et mortui in Christo resurgent primo; deinde nos uiuentes, qui reliqui sumus, simul cum illis rapiemur in nubibus in obuiam Christo in aera, et ita semper cum Domino erimus.

[20] But here the apostle was silent about the resurrection of the dead; but writing to these same people in the first epistle: We do not wish, he says, you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who are sleeping, so that you may not be saddened, as also the rest, who do not have hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with him those who have slept through Jesus. For this we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we who are living, who are left for the Advent of the Lord, will not precede those who have slept before; because the Lord himself, with a command and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are living, who are left, together with them shall be rapt in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Haec uerba apostolica resurrectionem mortuorum futuram, quando ueniet Christus, utique ad uiuos et mortuos iudicandos, praeclarissime ostendunt.

These apostolic words most clearly show the future resurrection of the dead, when Christ will come, indeed to judge the living and the dead.

Sed quaeri solet, utrum illi, quos hic uiuentes inuenturus est Christus, quorum personam in se atque illos, qui tunc secum uiuebant, transfigurabat apostolus, numquam omnino morituri sint, an ipso temporis puncto, quo cum resurgentibus rapientur in nubibus in obuiam Christo in aera, ad inmortalitatem per mortem mira celeritate transibunt. Neque enim dicendum est fieri non posse, ut, dum per aera in sublime portantur, in illo spatio et moriantur et reuiuescant. Quod enim ait: Et ita semper cum Domino erimus, non sic accipiendum est, tamquam in aere nos dixerit semper cum Domino esse mansuros; quia nec ipse utique ibi manebit, quia ueniens transiturus est; uenienti quippe ibitur obuiam, non manenti; sed ita cum Domino erimus, id est, sic erimus habentes corpora sempiterna, ubicumque cum illo fuerimus.

But it is commonly asked whether those whom Christ will find living here—whose person the apostle was transfiguring in himself and in those who were then living with him—are never going to die at all, or whether at that very point of time, when they will be caught up with the rising-again in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, they will pass over to immortality through death with wondrous celerity. For neither must it be said to be impossible that, while they are being borne on high through the air, in that interval they both die and revive. For that which he says: "And thus we shall always be with the Lord," is not to be taken as though he had said that we are going to remain always with the Lord in the air; for he himself assuredly will not remain there, since as one coming he is going to pass on; for one goes to meet one who is coming, not one who is remaining; but thus we shall be with the Lord, that is, we shall be so, having everlasting bodies, wherever we shall be with him.

Ad hunc autem sensum, quo existimemus etiam illos, quos hic uiuos inuenturus est Dominus, in ipso paruo spatio et passuros mortem et accepturos inmortalitatem, ipse apostolus nos uidetur urgere, ubi dicit: In Christo omnes uiuificabuntur; cum alio loco de ipsa loquens resurrectione corporum dicat: Tu quod seminas, non uiuificatur, nisi moriatur. Quo modo igitur, quos uiuentes hic Christus inueniet, per inmortalitatem in illo uiuificabuntur, etsi non moriantur, cum uideamus propter hoc esse dictum: Tu quod seminas, non uiuificatur, nisi moriatur? Aut si recte non dicimus seminari nisi ea corpora hominum, quae moriendo quoquo modo reuertuntur in terram (sicut sese habet etiam illa in transgressorem patrem generis humani diuinitus prolata sententia: Terra es et in terram ibis): fatendum est istos, quos nondum de corporibus egressos cum ueniet Christus inueniet, et istis uerbis apostoli et illis de genesi non teneri; quoniam sursum in nubibus rapti non utique seminantur, quia nec eunt in terram nec redeunt, siue nullam prorsus experiantur mortem siue paululum in aere moriantur.

To this sense, namely that we should suppose that even those whom the Lord will find living here will, in that very small interval, both undergo death and receive immortality, the apostle himself seems to press us, where he says: “In Christ all will be vivified”; since elsewhere, speaking of the very resurrection of bodies, he says: “What you sow is not vivified unless it die.” How then will those whom Christ will find living here be vivified into that immortality, if they do not die, since we see that for this reason it was said: “What you sow is not vivified unless it die”? Or if we rightly say that there is no sowing except of those human bodies which by dying return in some manner to the earth (as that sentence divinely pronounced against the transgressor, the father of the human race, also stands: “Dust you are, and to dust you will go”), it must be confessed that those whom Christ will find not yet gone forth from their bodies when he comes are bound neither by these words of the apostle nor by those from Genesis; for, caught up on high into the clouds, they are assuredly not sown, since they neither go into the earth nor return, whether they experience no death at all or die briefly in the air.

Sed aliud rursus occurrit, quod idem dixit apostolus, cum de resurrectione corporum ad Corinthios loqueretur: Omnes resurgemus, uel sicut alii codices habent: Omnes dormiemus. Cum ergo nec resurrectio fieri, nisi mors praecesserit, possit, nec dormitionem possimus illo loco intellegere nisi mortem: quomodo omnes uel dormient uel resurgent, si tam multi, quos in corpore inuenturus est Christus, nec dormient nec resurgent? Si ergo sanctos, qui reperientur Christo ueniente uiuentes eique in obuiam rapientur, crediderimus in eodem raptu de mortalibus corporibus exituros et ad eadem mox inmortalia redituros, nullas in uerbis apostoli patiemur angustias, siue ubi dicit: Tu quod seminas, non uiuificatur, nisi moriatur, siue ubi dicit: Omnes resurgemus aut: Omnes dormiemus; quia nec illi per inmortalitatem uiuificabuntur, nisi, quamlibet paululum, tamen ante moriantur, ac per hoc et a resurrectione non erunt alieni, quam dormitione praecedunt, quamuis breuissima, non tamen nulla.

But another thing, in turn, occurs to me, which the same apostle said when he was speaking to the Corinthians about the resurrection of bodies: “We shall all rise again,” or, as other codices have it: “We shall all fall asleep.” Since therefore neither can a resurrection take place unless death has gone before, nor can we understand “sleep” in that passage except as death: how will all either sleep or rise again, if so many, whom Christ will find in the body, will neither sleep nor rise again? If, then, we shall have believed that the saints who will be found living at Christ’s coming and will be caught up to meet him will, in that same rapture, go forth from their mortal bodies and presently return to the same bodies made immortal, we shall suffer no straits in the apostle’s words, whether where he says: “What you sow is not made alive unless it die,” or where he says: “We shall all rise again” or: “We shall all fall asleep”; because neither will they be made alive through immortality unless, however little, yet first they die, and through this they will not be estranged from the resurrection, which they are preceded by a dormition, although very brief, yet not nonexistent.

Cur autem nobis incredibile uideatur illam multitudinem corporum in aere quodam modo seminari atque ibi protinus inmortaliter atque incorruptibiliter reuiuescere, cum credamus, quod idem ipse apostolus apertissime dicit, in ictu oculi futuram resurrectionem et in membra sine fine uictura tanta facilitate tamque inaestimabili uelocitate rediturum antiquissimorum cadauerum puluerem? Nec ab illa sententia, qua homini dictum est: Terra es et in terram ibis, futuros illos sanctos arbitremur inmunes, si eorum morientium in terram non reccident corpora, sed, sicut in ipso raptu morientur, ita et resurgent, dum feruntur in aera. In terram quippe ibis est "in hoc ibis amissa uita, quod eras antequam sumeres uitam"; id est, hoc eris exanimatus, quod eras antequam esses animatus (terrae quippe insufflauit Deus in faciem flatum uitae, cum factus est homo in animam uiuam); tamquam diceretur: "Terra es animata, quod non eras; terra eris exanimis, sicut eras"; quod sunt et antequam putrescant omnia corpora mortuorum; quod erunt et illa, si morientur, ubicumque moriantur, cum uita carebunt, quam continuo receptura sunt.

But why should it seem unbelievable to us that that multitude of bodies be in a certain manner sown in the air, and there immediately revive immortally and incorruptibly, since we believe—what the same Apostle most openly says—that the resurrection will take place in the twinkling of an eye, and that with such ease and with such inestimable velocity the dust of the most ancient cadavers will return into members destined to live without end? Nor from that sentence by which it was said to man, “You are earth and to earth you shall go,” should we judge that those saints will be exempt, if their bodies, when they die, do not fall back into the earth, but, as they will die in the very rapture, so also they will rise again while they are being borne into the air. For “to earth you shall go” means “into this you shall go, when life is lost, which you were before you took life”; that is, lifeless you will be this which you were before you were enlivened (for God breathed into the face of the earth the breath of life, when man was made into a living soul); as if it were being said: “You are animated earth, which you were not; you will be exanimate earth, as you were”; which is what all the bodies of the dead are before they rot; and which those also will be, if they die, wherever they die, when they will lack the life which they are immediately about to receive back.

Sic ergo ibunt in terram, quia ex uiuis hominibus terra erunt, quem ad modum it in cinerem, quod fit cinis; it in uetustatem, quod fit uetus; it in testam, quod ex luto fit testa; et alia sescenta sic loquimur. Quo modo autem sit futurum, quod nunc pro nostrae ratiunculae uiribus utcumque conicimus, tunc erit potius, ut nosse possimus. Resurrectionem quippe mortuorum futuram et in carne, quando Christus uenturus est uiuos iudicaturus et mortuos, oportet, si Christiani esse uolumus, ut credamus; sed non ideo de hac re inanis est fides nostra si, quem ad modum futura sit, perfecte conprehendere non ualemus.

Thus, then, they will go into the earth, because from living human beings they will be earth, just as into ash goes that which becomes ash; into oldness goes that which becomes old; into a potsherd goes that which from clay becomes a potsherd; and six hundred other things we speak thus. As to how, however, it will be in the future—which now, according to the powers of our little reasoning, we somehow conjecture—then it will rather be, so that we may be able to know. For the resurrection of the dead, and in the flesh, when Christ is going to come to judge the living and the dead, we must, if we wish to be Christians, believe; but our faith is not therefore inane in this matter if we are not able perfectly to comprehend in what manner it will come to pass.

Verum iam, sicut <supra> promisimus, de hoc iudicio Dei nouissimo etiam prophetici ueteres libri quid praenuntiauerint, quantum satis esse uidebitur, debemus ostendere; quae, sicut arbitror, non tanta mora necesse erit tractari et exponi, si istis, quae praemisimus, lector curauerit adiuuari.

But now, as we promised <supra>, we ought to show, as much as will seem sufficient, what even the ancient prophetic books have fore-announced about this last judgment of God; which things, as I judge, will not need to be treated and expounded with so great delay, if the reader shall have cared to be aided by those things which we have premised.

[XXI] Propheta Esaias: Resurgent, inquit, mortui et resurgent qui erant in sepulcris, et laetabuntur omnes qui sunt in terra; ros enim, qui abs te est, sanitas illis est; terra uero impiorum cadet. Totum illud superius ad resurrectionem pertinet beatorum. Quod autem ait: Terra uero impiorum cadet, bene intellegitur dictum: "Corpora uero impiorum ruina damnationis excipiet." Iam porro si de bonorum resurrectione quod dictum est diligentius et distinctius uelimus intueri, ad primam referendum est quod dictum est: Resurgent mortui; ad secundam uero quod sequitur: Et resurgent qui erant in sepulcris.

[21] Prophet Isaiah: The dead shall rise again, he says, and they shall rise again who were in the sepulchres, and all who are in the earth shall rejoice; for the dew which is from you is health for them; but the earth of the impious shall fall. All that foregoing pertains to the resurrection of the blessed. But as for his saying: But the earth of the impious shall fall, it is well understood as said: "The bodies indeed of the impious the ruin of damnation will receive." Now furthermore, if we wish to look more diligently and more distinctly at what was said about the resurrection of the good, to the first must be referred what was said: The dead shall rise again; but to the second what follows: And they shall rise again who were in the sepulchres.

Iam si et illos inquiramus sanctos, quos hic uiuos inuenturus est Dominus, eis congrue deputabitur quod adiunxit: Et laetabuntur omnes qui sunt in terra; ros enim, qui abs te est, sanitas illis est. Sanitatem loco isto inmortalitatem rectissime accipimus; ea namque est plenissima sanitas, quae non reficitur alimentis tamquam cotidianis medicamentis. Item de iudicii die spem prius dans bonis, deinde terrens malos idem propheta sic loquitur: Haec dicit Dominus: Ecce ego declino in eos ut flumen pacis et ut torrens inundans gloriam gentium.

Now if we also inquire about those saints whom the Lord is going to find alive here, it will be congruently assigned to them what he subjoined: And all who are on the earth will rejoice; for the dew which is from you is health to them. By health in this place we most rightly understand immortality; for that is the fullest health, which is not restored by aliments as by daily medicaments. Likewise concerning the day of judgment, giving hope first to the good, then terrifying the evil, the same prophet speaks thus: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will let flow down upon them like a river of peace, and like a torrent inundating the glory of the nations.

Filii eorum super umeros portabuntur et super genua consolabuntur. Quem ad modum si quem mater consoletur, ita ego uos consolabor; et in Hierusalem consolabimini, et uidebitis, et gaudebit cor uestrum et ossa uestra ut herba exorientur. Et cognoscetur manus Domini colentibus eum, et comminabitur contumacibus.

Their sons will be carried upon the shoulders, and upon the knees they will be consoled. In like manner as a mother consoles someone, so I will console you; and in Jerusalem you will be consoled, and you will see, and your heart will rejoice, and your bones will spring forth like grass. And the hand of the Lord will be known to those who worship him, and he will threaten the contumacious.

Ecce enim Dominus ut ignis ueniet, et ut tempestas currus eius, reddere in indignatione uindictam et uastationem in flamma ignis. In igne enim Domini iudicabitur omnis terra et in gladio eius omnis caro; multi uulnerati erunt a Domino. In bonorum promissione flumen pacis profecto abundantiam pacis illius debemus accipere, qua maior esse non possit.

Behold, for the Lord will come like fire, and his chariots like a tempest, to render vengeance in indignation and devastation in a flame of fire. For in the fire of the Lord all the earth will be judged, and by his sword all flesh; many will be wounded by the Lord. In the promise to the good, by “river of peace” we ought surely to take the abundance of that peace, than which a greater cannot be.

Hac utique in fine rigabimur; de qua in praecedenti libro abundanter locuti sumus. Hoc flumen se in eos declinare dicit, quibus tantam beatitudinem pollicetur, ut intellegamus in illius felicitatis regione, quae in caelis est, hoc flumine omnia satiari; sed quia et terrenis corporibus pax incorruptionis atque inmortalitatis inde influet, ideo declinare se dixit hoc flumen, ut de supernis quodam modo etiam inferiora perfundat et homines aequales angelis reddat. Hierusalem quoque, non illam quae seruit cum filiis suis, sed liberam matrem nostram intellegamus secundum apostolum aeternam in caelis.

By this indeed in the end we shall be irrigated; about which in the preceding book we have spoken abundantly. This river says that it inclines itself toward those to whom it promises such beatitude, so that we may understand that in the region of that felicity which is in the heavens, by this river all things are satisfied; but because into earthly bodies as well the peace of incorruption and immortality will flow from there, therefore this river said that it inclines itself, so that from the supernal things it may in a certain manner even perfuse the inferior things and render men equal to angels. Jerusalem also—not that which is in servitude with her sons, but the free one, our mother—let us understand, according to the Apostle, as eternal in the heavens.

Ibi post labores aerumnarum curarumque mortalium consolabimur, tamquam paruuli eius in umeris genibusque portati. Rudes enim nos et nouos blandissimis adiutoriis insolita nobis beatitudo illa suscipiet. Ibi uidebimus, et gaudebit cor nostrum.

There we shall be consoled after the labors of miseries and the cares of mortals, as his little ones carried on shoulders and on knees. For as untrained and new, that beatitude, unfamiliar to us, will receive us with most gentle assistances. There we shall see, and our heart will rejoice.

Nec expressit quid uidebimus; sed quid nisi Deum? ut impleatur in nobis promissum euangelicum: Beati mundicordes, quoniam ipsi Deum uidebunt, et omnia illa, quae nunc non uidemus, credentes autem pro modulo capacitatis humanae longe minus quam sunt atque incomparabiliter cogitamus. Et uidebitis, inquit, et gaudebit cor uestrum.

Nor did he express what we shall see; but what, if not God? so that the evangelical promise may be fulfilled in us: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, and all those things which we do not now see, yet believing we conceive—according to the measure of human capacity—far less than they are and in a way not to be compared. And you shall see, he says, and your heart shall rejoice.

Hic creditis, ibi uidebitis.

Here you believe; there you will see.

Sed quoniam dixit: Et gaudebit cor uestrum, ne putaremus illa bona Hierusalem ad nostrum tantummodo spiritum pertinere: Et ossa, inquit, uestra ut herba exorientur; ubi resurrectionem corporum strinxit, uelut quod non dixerat reddens; neque enim cum uiderimus fiet, sed cum fuerit facta uidebimus. Nam et de caelo nouo ac terra noua iam supra dixerat, dum ea, quae sanctis promittuntur in fine, saepe ac multiformiter diceret. Erit, inquit, caelum nouum et terra noua, et non erunt memores priorum, nec ascendet in cor ipsorum, sed laetitiam et exultationem inuenient in ea. Ecce ego faciam Hierusalem exultationem et populum meum laetitiam; et exultabo in Hierusalem et laetabor in populo meo; et ultra non audietur in illa uox fletus, et cetera, quae quidam ad illos carnales mille annos referre conantur.

But since he said: And your heart shall rejoice, lest we should think that those goods of Jerusalem pertain only to our spirit: And your bones, he says, shall spring forth like grass; wherein he pressed the resurrection of bodies, as if supplying what he had not said; for it will not happen when we shall have seen, but when it has been done we shall see. For he had already said above about the new heaven and the new earth, while he was saying often and in many forms the things which are promised to the saints at the end. There shall be, he says, a new heaven and a new earth, and they shall not be mindful of the former things, nor shall it ascend into their heart, but they shall find joy and exultation in it. Behold, I will make Jerusalem exultation and my people joy; and I will exult in Jerusalem and I will rejoice in my people; and no longer shall a voice of weeping be heard in it, and the rest, which certain persons try to refer to those carnal one thousand years.

Locutiones enim tropicae propriis prophetico more miscentur, ut ad intellectum spiritalem intentio sobria cum quodam utili ac salubri labore perueniat; pigritia uero carnalis uel ineruditae atque inexercitatae tarditas mentis contenta litterae superficie nihil putat interius requirendum. Haec de propheticis uerbis, quae ante istum locum scripta sunt, satis dixerim. In hoc autem loco, unde ad illa digressi sumus, cum dixisset: Et ossa uestra ut herba exorientur, ut resurrectionem carnis quidem, sed tamen bonorum se nunc commemorare monstraret, adiunxit: Et cognoscetur manus Domini colentibus eum.

For tropic locutions are mixed with proper ones in prophetic mode, so that a sober intention may, with a certain useful and salubrious labor, arrive at spiritual understanding; but carnal sloth, or the slowness of a mind unlearned and unexercised, content with the surface of the letter, thinks nothing within is to be sought. Of the prophetic words which were written before this place I would have said enough. But in this place, from which we digressed to those matters, when he had said: “And your bones will spring forth like grass,” so as to show that he was indeed mentioning the resurrection of the flesh, but now of the good, he added: “And the hand of the Lord will be known to those who worship him.”

Quid est hoc nisi manus distinguentis cultores suos a contemptoribus suis? De quibus sequentia contexens: Et comminabitur, inquit, contumacibus, siue, ut ait alius interpres, incredulis. Nec tunc comminabitur, sed quae nunc dicuntur minaciter, tunc efficaciter implebuntur.

What is this if not the hand that distinguishes his worshipers from his contemners? About whom, weaving the sequel, he says: “And he will threaten the contumacious,” or, as another interpreter says, “the incredulous.” Nor will he then threaten, but the things that are now said menacingly will then be efficaciously fulfilled.

Ecce enim Dominus, inquit, ut ignis ueniet et ut tempestas currus eius, reddere in indignatione uindictam et uastationem in flamma ignis. In igne enim Domini iudicabitur omnis terra et in gladio eius omnis caro; multi uulnerati erunt a Domino. Siue igne siue tempestate siue gladio poenam iudicii significat; quando quidem ipsum Dominum quasi ignem dicit esse uenturum, eis profecto quibus poenalis erit eius aduentus.

Behold, for the Lord, he says, will come like fire, and like a tempest his chariot, to render in indignation vengeance and devastation in the flame of fire. For in the Lord’s fire the whole earth will be judged, and by his sword all flesh; many will be wounded by the Lord. Whether by fire or by tempest or by sword he signifies the penalty of judgment; since indeed he says that the Lord himself will come as if fire, assuredly for those to whom his advent will be penal.

Currus uero eius (nam pluraliter dicti sunt) angelica ministeria non inconuenienter accipimus. Quod autem ait omnem terram et omnem carnem in eius igne et gladio iudicari, non etiam hic spiritales intellegamus et sanctos, sed terrenos atque carnales, de qualibus dictum est: Qui terrena sapiunt, et: Sapere secundum carnem mors est; et quales omnino caro appellantur a Domino, ubi dicit: Non permanebit spiritus meus, in hominibus istis, quoniam caro sunt. Quod uero hic positum est: Multi uulnerati erunt a Domino, isto fiet uulnere mors secunda.

His chariots indeed (for they are spoken of in the plural) we may not inappropriately understand as angelic ministries. But when he says that all the earth and all flesh will be judged in his fire and sword, let us not here understand the spiritual and the saints, but the terrene and the carnal, of whom it is said: “who savor the things of earth,” and: “to savor according to the flesh is death;” and such as are altogether called “flesh” by the Lord, where he says: “My spirit shall not abide in these men, because they are flesh.” But as for what is set down here: “Many shall be wounded by the Lord,” by this wound the second death will come to pass.

Potest quidem et ignis et gladius et uulnus accipi in bono. Nam et ignem Dominus uelle se dixit mittere in mundum, et uisae sunt illis linguae diuisae uelut ignis, quando uenit Spiritus sanctus, et: Non ueni, inquit idem Dominus, pacem mittere in terram, sed gladium, et sermonem Dei dicit scriptura gladium bis acutum propter aciem geminam testamentorum duorum, et in cantico canticorum caritate se dicit sancta ecclesia uulneratam, uelut amoris impetu sagittatam. Sed hic cum legimus uel audimus ultorem Dominum esse uenturum, quem ad modum haec intellegenda sint, clarum est.

Both fire and sword and wound can indeed be taken in a good sense. For the Lord said that he wished to send fire into the world, and to them there appeared divided tongues as of fire, when the Holy Spirit came; and the same Lord says, “I did not come to send peace upon the earth, but a sword”; and Scripture calls the word of God a twice-sharp sword on account of the twin edge of the two Testaments; and in the Canticle of Canticles the holy Church says that she is wounded by charity, as if arrow-shot by the impetuosity of love. But here, when we read or hear that the avenging Lord is going to come, it is clear in what manner these things are to be understood.

Deinde breuiter commemoratis eis, qui per hoc iudicium consumentur, sub figura ciborum in lege uetere uetitorum, a quibus se non abstinuerunt, peccatores impiosque significans recapitulat ab initio gratiam noui testamenti a primo Saluatoris aduentu usque ad ultimum iudicium, de quo nunc agimus, perducens finiensque sermonem. Narrat namque Dominum dicere se uenire, ut congreget omnes gentes, easque uenturas et uisuras eius gloriam. Omnes enim, sicut dicit apostolus, peccauerunt et egent gloria Dei.

Then, having briefly commemorated those who through this judgment will be consumed, signifying under the figure of foods forbidden in the old law— from which they did not abstain— the sinners and the impious, he recapitulates from the beginning the grace of the New Testament, leading it on from the first Advent of the Savior up to the last judgment, about which we are now dealing, and finishing the discourse. For he relates that the Lord says He is coming to congregate all nations, and that they will come and will behold His glory. For all, as the Apostle says, have sinned and are in need of the glory of God.

Et relicturum se dicit super eos signa, quae utique mirantes credant in eum; et emissurum ex illis saluatos in gentes diuersas et longinquas insulas, quae non audierunt nomen eius neque uiderunt eius gloriam; et adnuntiaturos gloriam eius in gentibus et adducturos fratres istorum, quibus loquebatur, id est in fide sub Deo Patre fratres Israelitarum electorum; adducturos autem ex omnibus gentibus munus Domino in iumentis et uehiculis (quae iumenta et uehicula bene intelleguntur adiutoria esse diuina per cuiusque generis ministeria Dei, uel angelica uel humana) in sanctam ciuitatem Hierusalem, quae nunc in sanctis fidelibus est diffusa per terras. Vbi enim diuinitus adiuuantur, ibi credunt, et ubi credunt, ibi ueniunt. Comparauit autem illos Dominus tamquam per similitudinem filiis Israel offerentibus ei suas hostias cum psalmis in domo eius, quod ubique iam facit ecclesia; et promisit ab ipsis se accepturum sibi sacerdotes et Leuitas; quod nihilo minus fieri nunc uidemus.

And he says that he will leave upon them signs, which, marveling, they may indeed believe in him; and that he will send forth from them those saved into diverse nations and far-off islands, which have not heard his name nor seen his glory; and that they will announce his glory among the nations and will bring in the brothers of those to whom he was speaking, that is, in the faith under God the Father the brothers of the elect Israelites; and that they will bring from all nations a gift to the Lord on beasts of burden and vehicles (which beasts and vehicles are well understood to be divine aids through ministries of every kind of God, whether angelic or human) into the holy city Jerusalem, which now is diffused through the lands in the holy faithful. For where they are divinely aided, there they believe, and where they believe, there they come. Moreover, the Lord compared them, as by a similitude, to the sons of Israel offering to him their sacrifices with psalms in his house, which the church now does everywhere; and he promised that from them he would accept for himself priests and Levites; which no less we now see to be happening.

Non enim ex genere carnis et sanguinis, sicut erat primum secundum ordinem Aaron; sed, sicut oportebat in testamento nouo, ubi secundum ordinem Melchisedech summus sacerdos est Christus, pro cuiusque merito, quod in eum gratia diuina contulerit, sacerdotes et Leuitas eligi nunc uidemus, qui non isto nomine, quod saepe adsequuntur indigni, sed ea, quae non est bonis malisque communis, sanctitate pensandi sunt.

For not from the lineage of flesh and blood, as it was formerly according to the order of Aaron; but, as was fitting in the New Testament, where, according to the order of Melchizedek, the High Priest is Christ, we now see priests and Levites chosen according to each one’s merit, which the divine grace has bestowed upon him—who must be weighed not by that title, which the unworthy often obtain, but by holiness, which is not common to the good and the wicked.

Haec cum de ista, quae nunc inpertitur ecclesiae, perspicua nobisque notissima Dei miseratione dixisset, promisit et fines, ad quos per ultimum iudicium facta bonorum malorumque discretione uenietur, dicens per prophetam, uel de Domino dicens ipse propheta: Quo modo enim caelum nouum et terra noua manebit coram me, dicit Dominus, sic stabit semen uestrum et nomen uestrum, et erit mensis ex mense et sabbatum ex sabbato. Veniet omnis caro in conspectu meo adorare in Hierusalem, dixit Dominus; et egredientur et uidebunt membra hominum, qui praeuaricati sunt in me. Vermis eorum non morietur, et ignis eorum non extinguetur, et erunt uisui omni carni. Ad hoc iste propheta terminauit librum, ad quod terminabitur saeculum.

Having said these things about that perspicuous and to us most well‑known miseration of God which is now imparted to the church, he also promised the bounds to which, through the ultimate judgment, once the discrimination of good and evil has been made, there will be arrival, saying through the prophet—or the prophet himself speaking about the Lord: For just as the new heaven and the new earth shall abide before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed and your name stand, and there shall be month from month and sabbath from sabbath. All flesh shall come before my face to adore in Jerusalem, said the Lord; and they shall go out and shall see the bodies of the men who have transgressed against me. Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh. At this the prophet terminated the book, at which point the age will be terminated.

Quidam sane non interpretati sunt: Membra hominum, sed cadauera uirorum, per cadauera significantes euidentem corporum poenam; quamuis cadauer nisi caro exanimis non soleat nuncupari, illa uero animata erunt corpora, alioquin nulla poterunt sentire tormenta; nisi forte, quia mortuorum erunt corpora, id est eorum, qui in secundam mortem cadent, ideo non absurde etiam cadauera dici possunt. Vnde est et illud, quod ab eodem propheta dictum iam supra posui: Terra uero impiorum cadet. Quis autem non uideat a cadendo esse appellata cadauera?

Some, to be sure, have not interpreted it as “members of men,” but as “cadavers of men,” by “cadavers” signifying the evident punishment of bodies; although “cadaver” is not usually applied except to lifeless flesh, whereas those bodies will be animated, otherwise they could in no way feel torments; unless perhaps, because they will be bodies of the dead, that is, of those who will fall into the second death, therefore they too can not unreasonably be called “cadavers.” Whence also is that word which, spoken by the same prophet, I have already set above: “But the land of the impious shall fall.” And who does not see that “cadavers” are so called from “falling” (cadere)?

Virorum autem pro eo posuisse illos interpretes, quod est " hominum ", manifestum est. Neque enim quisquam dicturus est praeuaricatrices feminas in illo supplicio non futuras; sed ex potiore, praesertim de quo femina facta est, uterque sexus accipitur. Verum, quod ad rem maxime pertinet, cum et in bonis dicitur: Veniet omnis caro, quia ex omni genere hominum populus ille constabit (non enim omnes homines ibi erunt, quando in poenis plures erunt), — sed, ut dicere coeperam, cum et in bonis caro et in malis membra uel cadauera nominantur: profecto post resurrectionem carnis, cuius fides his rerum uocabulis omnino firmatur, illud, quo boni et mali suis finibus dirimentur, futurum esse iudicium declaratur.

But that those translators put “of men” in place of that which is “ hominum ” is manifest. For no one will say that transgressing women will not be in that punishment; but from the superior — especially from whom woman was made — both sexes are understood. Yet, what pertains most to the matter, since even of the good it is said: “All flesh shall come,” because from every kind of human beings that people will consist (for not all humans will be there, since more will be in punishments), — but, as I had begun to say, since both among the good “flesh” and among the evil “members” or “cadavers” are named: assuredly, after the resurrection of the flesh, the faith of which is altogether strengthened by these terms of things, it is declared that that judgment will come to pass by which the good and the evil will be sundered to their own bounds.

[XXII] Sed quo modo egredientur boni ad uidendas poenas malorum? Numquid corporis motu beatas illas relicturi sunt sedes et ad loca poenalia perrecturi, ut malorum tormenta conspiciant praesentia corporali? Absit; sed egredientur per scientiam.

[22] But how will the good go forth to see the punishments of the wicked? Will they, by motion of the body, leave those blessed seats and proceed to penal places, so that they may behold the torments of the wicked with bodily presence? Far be it; rather, they will go forth by means of knowledge.

Hoc enim uerbo significatum est eos qui cruciabuntur extra futuros. Propter quod et Dominus ea loca tenebras exteriores uocat, quibus contrarius est ille ingressus, de quo dicitur seruo bono: Intra in gaudium Domini tui; ne illuc mali putentur ingredi, ut sciantur, sed ad illos potius uelut egredi scientia, qua eos cognituri sunt, boni, quia id quod extra est cognituri sunt. Qui enim erunt in poenis, quid agatur intus in gaudio Domini nescient; qui uero erunt in illo gaudio, quid agatur foris in illis tenebris exterioribus scient.

For by this word it is signified that those who will be tormented will be outside. For which reason even the Lord calls those places the outer darkness, to which that entrance is contrary, of which it is said to the good servant: “Enter into the joy of your Lord”; not that the evil should be thought to enter in there, in order that they might be known, but that the good rather should, as it were, go out to them by knowledge, by which they are going to know them, because they are going to know that which is outside. For those who will be in punishments will not know what is being done inside in the joy of the Lord; but those who will be in that joy will know what is being done outside in that outer darkness.

Ideo dictum est: Egredientur, quia eos etiam quae foris ab eis erunt utique non latebunt. Si enim haec prophetae nondum facta nosse potuerunt per hoc, quod erat Deus, quantulumcumque erat, in eorum mortalium mentibus: quo modo inmortales sancti iam facta tunc nescient, cum Deus erit omnia in omnibus? Stabit ergo in illa beatitudine sanctorum semen et nomen; semen scilicet de quo Iohannes ait: Et semen eius in ipso manet; nomen uero de quo per hunc Esaiam dictum est: Nomen aeternum dabo eis.

Therefore it was said: “They will go forth,” because even the things which will be outside of them will by no means lie hidden from them. For if the prophets were able to know these things, not yet done, by this, that God—however little he was—was in their mortal minds, how will the immortal saints then not know things already done, when God will be all in all? Therefore in that beatitude of the saints both seed and name will stand: the seed, namely, of which John says, “And his seed remains in him;” but the name, of which it is said through this Isaiah, “I will give them an eternal name.”

Erit eis mensis ex mense et sabbatum ex sabbato, tamquam luna ex luna et requies ex requie, quorum utrumque ipsi erunt cum ex his umbris ueteribus et temporalibus in illa lumina noua ac sempiterna transibunt. In poenis autem malorum et inextinguibilis ignis et uiuacissimus uermis ab aliis atque aliis aliter atque aliter est expositus. Alii quippe utrumque ad corpus, alii utrumque ad animum rettulerunt; alii proprie ad corpus ignem, tropice ad animum uermem, quod esse credibilius uidetur.

There shall be for them month from month and sabbath from sabbath, as moon from moon and rest from rest, of which both they themselves will be, when from these old and temporal shadows they pass over into those new and everlasting lights. But in the punishments of the wicked, both the inextinguishable fire and the most vivacious worm have been expounded by different people in different ways: some, indeed, have referred both to the body, others both to the soul; others properly to the body the fire, tropically to the soul the worm—which seems to be more credible.

Sed nunc de hac differentia non est temporis disputare. De iudicio namque ultimo, quo fiet diremptio bonorum et malorum, hoc uolumen implere suscepimus; de ipsis uero praemiis et poenis alias diligentius disserendum est.

But now it is not the time to dispute about this difference. For concerning the ultimate judgment, by which the diremption of the good and the evil will be effected, we have undertaken to complete this volume; but about the rewards and penalties themselves, it must be discussed elsewhere more diligently.

[XXIII] Daniel de hoc ultimo iudicio sic prophetat, ut Antichristum quoque prius uenturum esse praenuntiet atque ad aeternum regnum sanctorum perducat narrationem suam. Cum enim uisione prophetica quattuor bestias significantes quattuor regna uidisset, ipsumque quartum a quodam rege superatum, qui Antichristus agnoscitur, et post haec aeternum regnum filii hominis, qui intellegitur Christus: Horruit, inquit, spiritus meus, ego Daniel, in habitudine mea, et uisus capitis mei conturbabant me. Et accessi, inquit, ad unum de stantibus, et ueritatem quaerebam ab eo de omnibus his, et dixit mihi ueritatem. Deinde, quid audierit ab illo, a quo de omnibus his quaesiuit, tamquam eo sibi exponente sic loquitur: Hae bestiae magnae quattuor quattuor regna surgent in terra, quae auferentur, et accipient regnum sancti Altissimi et obtinebunt illud usque in saeculum et usque in saeculum saeculorum.

[23] Daniel prophesies thus about this last judgment, so that he also foretells that the Antichrist will first come and carries his narration through to the eternal kingdom of the saints. For when by a prophetic vision he had seen four beasts signifying four kingdoms, and the fourth itself overcome by a certain king, who is recognized as the Antichrist, and after these things the eternal kingdom of the Son of Man, who is understood to be Christ: “My spirit shuddered,” he says, “I, Daniel, in my habitude, and the visions of my head troubled me. And I approached,” he says, “one of those standing by, and I sought the truth from him about all these things, and he told me the truth.” Then, what he had heard from that one from whom he had inquired about all these things, as though with him expounding it, he speaks thus: “These great beasts, four, are four kingdoms that shall arise on the earth, which shall be taken away, and the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and shall hold it even unto the age and unto the age of ages.”

Et quaerebam, inquit, diligenter de bestia quarta, quae erat differens prae omni bestia, terribilis amplius — dentes eius ferrei et ungues eius aerei, manducans et comminuens et reliqua pedibus suis conculcans —, et de cornibus eius decem, quae erant in capite eius, et de altero, quod ascendit et excussit de prioribus tria; cornu illud in quo erant oculi et os loquens magna, et uisus eius maior ceteris. Videbam, et cornu illud faciebat bellum cum sanctis, et praeualebat ad ipsos, donec uenit uetustus dierum, et regnum dedit sanctis Altissimi; et tempus peruenit, et regnum obtinuerunt sancti. Haec Daniel quaesisse se dixit.

And I was inquiring, he says, diligently about the fourth beast, which was differing beyond every beast, more terrible — its teeth iron and its claws bronze, devouring and crushing and the rest it was trampling with its feet —, and about its ten horns which were on its head, and about another which came up and shook out three of the former; that horn in which were eyes and a mouth speaking great things, and its appearance greater than the others. I was seeing, and that horn was making war with the saints, and it was prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and gave the kingdom to the saints of the Most High; and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom. These things Daniel said he had inquired.

Deinde quid audierit continuo subiungens: Et dixit, inquit (id est ille, a quo quaesierat, respondit et dixit): Bestia quarta quartum regnum erit in terra, quod praeualebit omnibus regnis; et manducabit omnem terram, et conculcabit eam et concidet. Et decem cornua eius decem reges surgent; et post eos surget alius, qui superabit malis omnes, qui ante eum fuerunt; et tres reges humiliabit et uerba aduersus Altissimum loquetur et sanctos Altissimi conteret et suspicabitur mutare tempora et legem; et dabitur in manu eius usque ad tempus et tempora et dimidium tempus. Et iudicium sedebit, et principatum remouebunt ad exterminandum et perdendum usque in finem; et regnum et potestas et magnitudo regum, qui sub omni caelo sunt, data est sanctis Altissimi.

Then, immediately subjoining what he had heard: And he said, says he (that is, the one from whom he had inquired answered and said): The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will prevail over all kingdoms; and it will devour the whole earth, and trample it and cut it to pieces. And its ten horns—ten kings will arise; and after them another will arise, who will surpass in evils all who were before him; and he will humble three kings, and he will speak words against the Most High, and he will crush the saints of the Most High, and he will suppose to change times and law; and it will be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. And judgment will sit, and they will remove his principate, to exterminate and destroy unto the end; and the kingdom and the power and the greatness of the kingdoms which are under all heaven was given to the saints of the Most High.

Et regnum eius regnum sempiternum; et omnes principatus ipsi seruient et obaudient. Hoc usque, inquit, finis sermonis. Ego Daniel; multum cogitationes meae conturbabant me, et forma mea inmutata est super me, et uerbum in corde meo conseruaui.

And his kingdom is a sempiternal kingdom; and all principalities will serve and obey him. Thus far, he said, is the end of the discourse. I, Daniel; my thoughts greatly disturbed me, and my form was changed upon me, and I preserved the word in my heart.

Quattuor illa regna exposuerunt quidam Assyriorum, Persarum, Macedonum et Romanorum. Quam uero conuenienter id fecerint, qui nosse desiderant, legant presbyteri Hieronymi librum in Danielem satis erudite diligenterque conscriptum. Antichristi tamen aduersus ecclesiam saeuissimum regnum licet exiguo spatio temporis sustinendum, donec Dei ultimo iudicio regnum sancti accipiant sempiternum, qui uel dormitans haec legit, dubitare non sinitur.

Certain persons have expounded those four kingdoms as of the Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans. How fittingly indeed they have done this, those who desire to know, let them read the presbyter Jerome’s book on Daniel, quite eruditely and diligently composed. Nevertheless, that the most savage reign of Antichrist against the church—although to be endured for a scant span of time, until by God’s ultimate judgment the saints receive an everlasting kingdom—even one who reads these things while dozing is not permitted to doubt.

Tempus quippe et tempora et dimidium temporis unum annum esse et duo et dimidium ac per hoc tres annos et semissem etiam numero dierum posterius posito dilucescit, aliquando in scripturis et mensum numero declaratur; Videntur enim tempora indefinite hic dicta lingua Latina; sed per dualem numerum dicta sunt, quem Latini non habent. Sicut autem Graeci, ita hunc dicuntur habere et Hebraei. Sic ergo dicta sunt tempora, tamquam dicerentur duo tempora.

For “time and times and half a time” is shown to be one year and two and a half, and through this three years and a half—this too becomes clear when the number of days is afterwards set down, and sometimes in the Scriptures it is declared by the number of months; for “times” seems here to have been said indefinitely in the Latin tongue, but it was said by the dual number, which the Latins do not have. As the Greeks, so the Hebrews are said to have this. Thus, therefore, “times” was said as if two times were said.

Vereri me sane fateor, ne in decem regibus, quos tamquam decem homines uidetur inuenturus Antichristus, forte fallamur, atque ita ille inopinatus adueniat, non existentibus tot regibus in orbe Romano. Quid si enim numero isto denario uniuersitas regum significata est, post quos ille uenturus est; sicut millenario, centenario, septenario significatur plerumque uniuersitas, et aliis atque aliis numeris, quos nunc commemorare non est necesse?

I truly confess that I am afraid lest, in the ten kings—whom the Antichrist seems likely to find as if ten men—we perhaps be mistaken, and so he arrive unexpected, when there are not so many kings existing in the Roman world. For what if by that denary number the universality of kings is signified, after whom he is going to come; just as by the millenary, the centenary, the septenary, universality is very often signified, and by other and other numbers, which it is not necessary to recount now?

Alio loco idem Daniel: Et erit, inquit, tempus tribulationis, qualis non fuit ex quo nata est gens super terram usque ad tempus illud. Et in tempore illo saluabitur populus tuus omnis, qui inuentus fuerit scriptus in libro. Et multi dormientium in terrae aggere exurgent; hi in uitam aeternam, et hi in opprobrium et in confusionem aeternam.

In another place the same Daniel: "And it shall be," he says, "a time of tribulation, such as has not been since a nation was born upon the earth until that time. And in that time your people will be saved, all who shall be found written in the book. And many of those sleeping in the mound of the earth will rise up; these to eternal life, and these to eternal opprobrium and confusion."

Et intellegentes fulgebunt sicut claritas firmamenti, et ex iustis multi sicut stellae in saecula et adhuc. Sententiae illi euangelicae est locus iste simillimus de resurrectione dumtaxat corporum mortuorum. Nam qui illic dicti sunt esse in monumentis, ipsi hic dormientes in terrae aggere, uel, sicut alii interpretati sunt, in terrae puluere; et sicut ibi procedent dictum est, ita hic exurgent, sicut ibi quo bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem uitae, qui autem mala egerunt, in resurrectionem iudicii; ita et isto loco hi in uitam aeternam, et hi in opprobrium et in confusionem aeternam.

And those who understand will shine like the brightness of the firmament, and many of the just like stars unto the ages and beyond. This place is most similar to that evangelical sentence concerning the resurrection of dead bodies only. For those who there are said to be in the monuments are here the sleepers in the earth’s mound, or, as others have interpreted, in the earth’s dust; and as it was said there that they will come forth, so here they will arise: as there, those who have done good, unto the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment; so also in this place, these unto eternal life, and these unto reproach and unto eternal confusion.

Non autem diuersum putetur, quod, cum ibi positum sit omnes qui sunt in monumentis, hic non ait propheta omnes, sed multi dormientium in terrae aggere. Ponit enim aliquando scriptura pro omnibus multos. Propterea et Abrahae dictum est: Patrem multarum gentium posui te, cui tamen alio loco: In semine, inquit, tuo benedicentur omnes gentes.

Nor let it be thought diverse that, since there it is set “all who are in the monuments,” here the prophet does not say “all,” but “many of those sleeping in the mound of the earth. For Scripture sometimes puts many for all. Therefore it was also said to Abraham: “I have set you father of many nations,” yet to him in another place: “In your seed,” he says, “all nations shall be blessed.”

De tali autem resurrectione huic quoque ipsi prophetae Danieli paulo post dicitur: Et tu ueni et requiesce; adhuc enim dies in completionem consummationis, et requiesces et resurges in sorte tua in fine dierum.

But concerning such a resurrection, to this very prophet Daniel himself a little later it is said: And you, come and rest; for there are still days unto the completion of the consummation, and you shall rest and you shall rise in your lot at the end of days.

[XXIV] Multa de iudicio nouissimo dicuntur in psalmis, sed eorum plura transeunter et strictim. Hoc tamen quod de fine huius saeculi apertissime ibi dictum est, nequaquam silentio praeteribo. Principio terram tu fundasti, Domine, et opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli.

[24] Many things about the last judgment are said in the psalms, but more of them in passing and summarily. This, however, which about the end of this age is said there most openly, I will by no means pass over in silence. In the beginning you founded the earth, Lord, and the heavens are the works of your hands.

Ipsi peribunt, tu autem permanes; et omnes sicut uestimentum ueterescent, et sicut opertorium mutabis eos, et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient. Quid est quod Porphyrius, cum pietatem laudet Hebraeorum, qua magnus et uerus et ipsis numinibus terribilis ab eis colitur Deus, Christianos ob hoc arguit maximae stultitiae etiam ex oraculis deorum suorum, quod istum mundum dicunt esse periturum? Ecce in litteris pietatis Hebraeorum dicitur Deo, quem confitente tanto philosopho etiam ipsa numina perhorrescunt: Opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli, ipsi peribunt.

They themselves will perish, but you remain; and all things like a garment will grow old, and like a covering you will change them, and they will be changed; but you are the same, and your years will not fail. What is it that Porphyry—while he praises the piety of the Hebrews, by which God is worshiped by them as great and true and terrible even to the numina themselves—accuses the Christians on this account of the greatest stupidity, even on the basis of the oracles of his own gods, namely, because they say that this world is going to perish? Behold, in the writings of the piety of the Hebrews it is said to God, at the confession of whom even by so great a philosopher the very numina shudder: The heavens are the works of your hands; they themselves will perish.

Numquid quando caeli peribunt, mundus, cuius idem caeli superior pars est et tutior, non peribit? Si haec sententia Ioui displicet, cuius, ut scribit iste philosophus, uelut grauioris auctoritatis oraculo in Christianorum credulitate culpatur: cur non similiter sapientiam tamquam stultitiam culpat Hebraeorum, in quorum libris piissimis inuenitur? Porro si in illa sapientia, quae Porphyrio tam multum placet, ut eam deorum quoque suorum uocibus praedicet, legitur caelos esse perituros: cur usque adeo uana est ista fallacia, ut in fide Christianorum uel inter cetera uel prae ceteris hoc detestentur, quod in ea periturus creditur mundus, quo utique nisi pereunte caeli perire non possunt?

Will the world not perish when the heavens perish—the world of which the heavens are the higher and safer part? If this opinion displeases Jupiter, by whose, as this philosopher writes, oracle of graver authority the credulity of Christians is blamed: why does he not similarly blame as stupidity the wisdom of the Hebrews, in whose most pious books it is found? Furthermore, if in that wisdom which so greatly pleases Porphyry that he even proclaims it by the voices of his own gods, it is read that the heavens are going to perish: why is this fallacy so vain that in the faith of Christians they detest this, either among other things or before the rest, namely, that in it the world is believed to be about to perish—without the perishing of which indeed the heavens cannot perish?

Et in litteris quidem sacris, quae proprie nostrae sunt, non Hebraeis nobis e communes, id est in euangelicis et apostolicis libris legitur: Praeterit figura huius mundi; legitur: Mundus transit; legitur: Caelum et terra transibunt. Sed puto, quod praeterit, transit, transibunt aliquanto mitius dicta sunt quam peribunt. In epistula quoque apostoli Petri, ubi aqua inundatus qui tunc erat perisse dictus est mundus, satis clarum est, et quae pars mundi a toto significata, et quatenus perisse sit dicta, et qui caeli repositi igni reseruandi in diem iudicii et perditionis hominum impiorum; et in eo quod paulo post ait: Veniet dies Domini ut fur, in quo caeli magno impetu transcurrent, elementa autem ardentia resoluentur, et terra et quae in ipsa sunt opera exurentur; ac deinde subiecit: His omnibus pereuntibus quales oportet esse uos?

And indeed in the sacred letters which are properly ours, not common to us with the Hebrews, that is, in the evangelical and apostolic books, it is read: “The figure of this world passes by”; it is read: “The world passes”; it is read: “Heaven and earth will pass.” But I think that “passes by,” “passes,” “will pass” are said somewhat more mildly than “will perish.” Also in the epistle of the apostle Peter, where the world that then existed, inundated with water, is said to have perished, it is quite clear both what part of the world is signified by the whole, and to what extent it is said to have perished, and which heavens are laid up for fire, reserved for the day of judgment and perdition of impious men; and in that which he presently says: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will run their course with great impetus, but the elements, burning, will be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up”; and then he subjoined: “With all these things perishing, what sort of persons ought you to be?”

possunt illi caeli intellegi perituri, quos dixit repositos igni reseruandos, et ea elementa accipi arsura, quae in hac ima mundi parte subsistunt procellosa et turbulenta, in qua eosdem caelos dixit esse repositos, saluis illis superioribus et in sua integritate manentibus, in quorum firmamento sunt sidera constituta. Nam et illud quod scriptum est, stellas de caelo esse casuras, praeter quod potest multo probabilius et aliter intellegi, magis ostendit mansuros esse illos caelos, si tamen stellae inde casurae sunt; cum uel tropica sit locutio, quod est credibilius, uel in isto imo caelo futurum sit, utique mirabilius quam nunc fit. Vnde et illa stella Vergiliana

those heavens can be understood as destined to perish, which he said were laid up, reserved for fire, and those elements can be taken as going to burn, which subsist in this lowest part of the world, stormy and turbulent, in which he said those same heavens are laid up, while those higher ones remain safe and in their own integrity, in whose firmament the stars are constituted. For even that which is written, that the stars are to fall from heaven, besides that it can be understood much more probably in another way, rather shows that those heavens are to remain, if indeed the stars are going to fall from there; since either it is a tropic locution—which is more credible—or it is going to happen in this lowest heaven, assuredly more wondrously than now happens. Whence also that Vergilian star

facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit, et Idaea se condidit silua. Hoc autem quod de psalmo commemoraui, nullum caelorum uidetur relinquere, quod periturum esse non dixerit. Vbi enim dicitur: Opera manuum tuarum sunt caeli, ipsi peribunt, quam nullum eorum ab opere Dei, tam nullum eorum a perditione secernitur.

bearing a torch, it ran with much light, and hid itself in the Idaean forest. But this which I have recalled from the psalm seems to leave none of the heavens which it has not said will perish. For where it is said: “The heavens are the works of your hands; they themselves will perish,” just as none of them is set apart from the work of God, so none of them is set apart from perdition.

Non enim dignabuntur de Petri apostoli locutione, quem uehementer oderunt, Hebraeorum defendere pietatem, deorum suorum oraculis adprobatam, ut saltem, ne totus mundus periturus esse credatur, sic a toto pars accipiatur in eo, quod dictum est: Ipsi peribunt, cum soli caeli infimi perituri sint, quem ad modum in apostolica illa epistula a toto pars accipitur, quod diluuio perisse dictus est mundus, quamuis sola eius cum suis caelis pars ima perierit. Sed quia hoc, ut dixi, non dignabuntur, ne uel apostoli Petri adprobent sensum, uel tantum concedant conflagrationi nouissimae, quantum dicimus ualuisse diluuium, qui nullis aquis, nullis flammis totum genus humanum perire posse contendunt: restat ut dicant, quod propterea dii eorum Hebraeam sapientiam laudauerint, quia istum psalmum non legerant.

For they will not deign, on the basis of the Apostle Peter’s locution, whom they vehemently hate, to defend the piety of the Hebrews, approved by the oracles of their gods, so that at least, lest the whole world be believed to be about to perish, a part may thus be taken from the whole in that which was said: “They themselves shall perish,” since only the lowest heavens are to perish; just as in that apostolic epistle a part is taken from the whole, in that the world is said to have perished in the deluge, although only its lowest part with its heavens perished. But because this, as I said, they will not deign to do—either to approve the sense of the Apostle Peter, or to concede so much to the most final conflagration as we say the deluge availed—seeing that they contend that by no waters, by no flames can the whole human race perish, it remains that they say that for this reason their gods praised Hebrew wisdom, because they had not read that psalm.

In psalmo etiam quadragensimo nono de iudicio Dei nouissimo intellegitur dictum: Deus manifestus ueniet, Deus noster, et non silebit. Ignis in conspectu eius ardebit, et in circuitu eius tempestas ualida. Aduocabit caelum sursum et terram discernere populum suum.

In the forty-ninth psalm also it is understood to have been said about the newest (last) judgment of God: A manifest God will come, our God, and he will not be silent. Fire will burn in his sight, and around him a mighty tempest. He will call heaven from above and the earth to discern his people.

Congregate illi iustos eius, qui disponunt testamentum eius super sacrificia. Hoc nos de Domino Iesu Christo intellegimus, quem speramus de caelo esse uenturum ad uiuos et mortuos iudicandos. Manifestus enim ueniet inter iustos et iniustos iudicaturus iuste, qui prius uenit occultus ab iniustis iudicandus iniuste.

Gather to him his just ones, who dispose his testament upon sacrifices. This we understand concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we hope is to come from heaven to judge the living and the dead. For manifest he will come to judge justly among the just and the unjust, who earlier came hidden to be judged unjustly by the unjust.

Ipse, inquam, manifestus ueniet et non silebit, id est, in uoce iudicis euidens apparebit, qui prius cum uenisset occultus, ante iudicem siluit, quando sicut ouis ad immolandum ductus est et sicut agnus coram tondente fuit sine uoce, quem ad modum de illo per Esaiam legimus prophetatum et in euangelio uidemus impletum. De igne uero et tempestate, cum in Esaiae prophetia tale aliquid tractaremus, quo modo essent haec intellegenda, iam diximus. Quod uero dictum est: Aduocabit caelum sursum; quoniam sancti et iusti recte caelum appellantur, nimirum hoc est, quod ait apostolus: Simul cum illis rapiemur in nubibus in obuiam Christo in aera.

He himself, I say, will come manifest and will not be silent, that is, in the voice of the judge he will appear evident, who earlier, when he had come hidden, kept silence before the judge, when like a sheep he was led to be immolated and like a lamb before the shearer he was without a voice, as we read it prophesied about him through Isaiah and see it fulfilled in the Gospel. As for the fire and the tempest, when in Isaiah’s prophecy we handled something of this sort—how these are to be understood—we have already said. But what is said, “He will call heaven above”; since the holy and the just are rightly called “heaven,” clearly this is what the Apostle says: “Together with them we shall be raptured in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.”

Nam secundum litterae superficiem, quo modo aduocatur caelum sursum, quasi possit esse nisi sursum? Quod autem adiunctum est: Et terram discernere populum suum, si tantummodo subaudiatur aduocabit, id est aduocabit et terram, nec subaudiatur sursum, hunc uidetur habere sensum secundum rectam fidem, ut caelum intellegatur in eis, qui cum illo iudicaturi sunt, et terra in eis, qui iudicandi sunt; ut aduocabit caelum sursum non hic intellegamus "rapiet in aera", sed "in iudiciarias eriget sedes". Potest et illud intellegi aduocabit caelum sursum "aduocabit angelos in supernis et excelsis locis, cum quibus descendat ad faciendum iudicium"; aduocabit et terram, id est homines in terra utique iudicandos. Si autem utrumque subaudiendum est, cum dicitur et terram, id est et aduocabit et sursum, ut iste sit sensus: Aduocabit caelum sursum, et terram aduocabit sursum: nihil melius intellegi existimo quam omnes qui rapientur in obuiam Christo in aera, sed caelum dictum propter animas, terram propter corpora.

For, according to the surface of the letter, how is heaven called upwards, as if it could be anywhere except upwards? But as for what is added: And the earth to discern his people, if only “he will call” be understood, that is, he will also call the earth, and “upwards” not be understood, this seems to have this sense according to right faith, that “heaven” be understood in those who are to judge with him, and “earth” in those who are to be judged; so that in “he will call heaven upwards” we should not here understand “he will snatch up into the air,” but “he will raise to judicial seats.” It can also be understood that “he will call heaven upwards” means “he will call the angels in the supernal and exalted places, with whom he may descend to make judgment”; and “he will call the earth,” that is, the humans on earth to be judged, of course. But if both are to be understood implicitly when it is said “and the earth,” that is, both “he will call” and “upwards,” so that the sense is: He will call heaven upwards, and he will call the earth upwards: I think nothing better can be understood than that all are they who will be rapt to meet Christ in the air, but “heaven” is said on account of the souls, “earth” on account of the bodies.

Discernere porro populum populum, quid est nisi per iudicium separare bonos a malis, tamquam oues ab haedis? Deinde conuersio sermonis ad angelos facta est: Congregate illi iustos eius; profecto enim per angelicum ministerium res tanta peragenda est. Si autem quaerimus, quos iustos ei congregaturi sint angeli: Qui disponunt, inquit, testamentum eius super sacrificia.

To discern, moreover, the people, the people—what is it but by judgment to separate the good from the evil, as sheep from kids? Then the turning of the discourse is made to the angels: “Gather to him his just ones”; for indeed through angelic ministry a matter so great is to be accomplished. But if we ask which just ones the angels are going to gather to him: “Those,” he says, “who dispose his testament upon the sacrifices.”

Haec est omnis uita iustorum: disponere testamentum Dei super sacrificia. Aut enim opera misericordiae sunt super sacrificia, id est sacrificiis praeponenda, iuxta sententiam Dei dicentis: Misericordiam uolo quam sacrificium; aut si super sacrificia "in sacrificiis" intellegitur dictum, quo modo super terram fieri dicitur quod fit utique in terra: profecto ipsa opera misericordiae sunt sacrificia, quibus placetur Deo, sicut in libro huius operis decimo me disseruisse reminiscor; in quibus operibus disponunt iusti testamentum Dei, quia propter promissiones, quae nouo eius testamento continentur, haec faciunt. Vnde congregatis sibi iustis suis et ad suam dexteram constitutis nouissimo utique iudicio dicturus est Christus: Venite, benedicti patris mei, possidete paratum uobis regnum a constitutione mundi.

This is the whole life of the righteous: to dispose the Testament of God over the sacrifices. For either the works of mercy are above the sacrifices, that is, to be preferred to the sacrifices, according to the sentence of God saying: I desire mercy rather than sacrifice; or, if “over the sacrifices” is understood as “in the sacrifices,” just as what is done “upon the earth” is said of what is indeed done on earth: assuredly the very works of mercy are sacrifices by which God is pleased, as I recall having discussed in the tenth book of this work; in which works the righteous dispose the Testament of God, because on account of the promises which are contained in His New Testament they do these things. Whence, when His righteous have been gathered to Himself and set at His right hand at the last judgment, Christ will say: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the constitution of the world.

Esuriui enim, et dedistis mihi manducare, et cetera quae ibi proferuntur de bonorum operibus bonis et eorum praemiis sempiternis per ultimam sententiam iudicantis.

For I hungered, and you gave me to eat, and the rest which are there set forth concerning the good works of the good and their eternal rewards by the final sentence of the Judge.

[XXV] Propheta Malachiel siue Malachi, qui et angelus dictus est, qui etiam Esdras sacerdos, cuius alia in canonem scripta recepta sunt, ab aliquibus creditur (nam de illo hanc esse Hebraeorum opinionem dicit Hieronymus), iudicium nouissimum prophetat dicens: Ecce uenit, dicit Dominus omnipotens; et quis sustinebit diem introitus eius, aut quis ferre poterit ut aspiciat eum? Quia ipse ingreditur quasi ignis conflatorii et quasi herba lauantium; et sedebit conflans et mundans sicut argentum et sicut aurum, et mundabit filios Leui, et fundet eos sicut aurum et argentum; et erunt Domino offerentes hostias in iustitia, et placebit Domino sacrificium Iudae et Hierusalem, sicut diebus pristinis et sicut annis prioribus. Et accedam ad uos in iudicio, et ero testis uelox super maleficos et super adulteros et super eos, qui iurant in nomine meo mendaciter, et qui fraudant mercedem mercennarios et opprimunt per potentiam uiduas et percutiunt pupillos et peruertunt iudicium aduenae, et qui non timent me, dicit Dominus omnipotens; quoniam ego Dominus Deus uester, et non mutor.

[25] The prophet Malachiel or Malachi, who is also called angel, who also is Ezra the priest, whose other writings have been received into the canon, is believed by some (for Jerome says that this is the opinion of the Hebrews), prophesies the last judgment, saying: Behold, he comes, says the Lord almighty; and who will endure the day of his entering, or who will be able to bear to look upon him? For he enters like the fire of a smelter and like the lye of launderers; and he will sit smelting and purifying like silver and like gold, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and he will melt them like gold and silver; and they will be to the Lord offering sacrifices in righteousness, and the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in former days and as in earlier years. And I will draw near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear in my name falsely, and who defraud the wages of hirelings and oppress by power widows and strike the fatherless and pervert the judgment of the sojourner, and who do not fear me, says the Lord almighty; for I am the Lord your God, and I do not change.

Ex his quae dicta sunt uidetur euidentius apparere in illo iudicio quasdam quorundam purgatorias poenas futuras. Vbi enim dicitur: Quis sustinebit diem introitus eius, aut quis ferre poterit, ut aspiciat eum? Quia ipse ingreditur quasi ignis conflatorii et quasi herba lauantium; et sedebit conflans et mundans sicut argentum et sicut aurum et mundabit filios Leui et fundet eos sicut aurum et argentum: quid aliud intellegendum est?

From these things which have been said, it seems to appear more evidently that in that Judgment there will be certain purgatorial penalties for certain persons. For where it is said: Who will endure the day of his entry, or who will be able to bear to look upon him? For he himself enters like the fire of a smelter and like the herb of launderers; and he will sit smelting and cleansing like silver and like gold, and he will purify the sons of Levi and will melt them like gold and silver: what else is to be understood?

Dicit tale aliquid et Esaias: Lauabit Dominus sordes filiorum et filiarum Sion, et sanguinem emundabit de medio eorum spiritu iudicii et spiritu combustionis. Nisi forte sic eos dicendum est emundari a sordibus et eliquari quodam modo, cum ab eis mali per poenale iudicium separantur, ut illorum segregatio atque damnatio purgatio sit istorum, quia sine talium de cetero permixtione uicturi sunt. Sed cum dicit: Et emundabit filios Leui et fundet eos sicut aurum et argentum; et erunt Domino offerentes hostias in iustitia, et placebit Domino sacrificium Iudae et Hierusalem, utique ostendit eos ipsos, qui emundabuntur, deinceps in sacrificiis iustitiae Domino esse placituros, ac per hoc ipsi a sua iniustitia mundabuntur, in qua Domino displicebant.

Isaiah also says something of this sort: The Lord will wash the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and will cleanse the blood from their midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of combustion. Unless perhaps they are to be said to be cleansed from their filths and in a certain manner to be smelted, when the evil are separated from them by penal judgment, so that the segregation and damnation of those is a purgation of these, because they are going to live thereafter without the commixture of such men. But when he says: And he will cleanse the sons of Levi and will refine them like gold and silver; and they shall be offering sacrifices to the Lord in righteousness, and the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, assuredly he shows that they themselves, who will be cleansed, will henceforth be pleasing to the Lord in the sacrifices of righteousness, and through this they themselves will be cleansed from their own injustice, in which they were displeasing to the Lord.

Hostiae porro in plena perfectaque iustitia, cum mundati fuerint, ipsi erunt. Quid enim acceptius Deo tales offerunt quam se ipsos? Verum ista quaestio de purgatoriis poenis, ut diligentius pertractetur, in tempus aliud differenda est.

Moreover, once they have been cleansed, they themselves will be the offerings in full and perfect justice. For what do such as these offer more acceptable to God than themselves? But this question concerning purgatorial penalties, in order that it may be treated more diligently, is to be deferred to another time.

Filios autem Leui et Iudam et Hierusalem ipsam Dei ecclesiam debemus accipere, non ex Hebraeis tantum, sed ex aliis etiam, gentibus congregatam; nec talem, qualis nunc est, ubi, si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos seducimus, et ueritas in nobis non est; sed qualis tunc erit, uelut area per uentilationem, ita per iudicium purgata nouissimum, eis quoque igne mundatis, quibus talis mundatio necessaria est, ita ut nullus omnino sit, qui offerat sacrificium pro peccatis suis. Omnes enim qui sic offerunt, profecto in peccatis sunt, pro quibus dimittendis offerunt, ut, cum obtulerint acceptumque Deo fuerit, tunc dimittantur.

But the sons of Levi and Judah and Jerusalem itself we ought to take as the Church of God, congregated not from Hebrews only, but also from other nations; and not such as it now is, where, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but such as it will then be, like a threshing-floor purified by winnowing, so by the last judgment, with those also cleansed by fire for whom such a purgation is necessary, so that there is absolutely no one who offers a sacrifice for his sins. For all who so offer are assuredly in sins, for the remission of which they offer, so that, when they have offered and it has been accepted by God, then they are remitted.

[XXVI] Volens autem Deus ostendere ciuitatem suam tunc in ista consuetudine non futuram dixit filios Leui oblaturos hostias in iustitia; non ergo in peccato ac per hoc non pro peccato. Vnde intellegi potest in eo quod secutus adiunxit atque ait: Et placebit Domino sacrificium Iudae et Hierusalem, sicut diebus pristinis et sicut annis prioribus, frustra sibi Iudaeos secundum legem ueteris testamenti sacrificiorum suorum praeterita tempora polliceri. Non enim tunc in iustitia, sed in peccatis hostias offerebant, quando pro peccatis praecipue ac primitus offerebant, usque adeo ut sacerdos ipse, quem debemus utique credere ceteris fuisse iustiorem, secundum Dei mandatum soleret pro suis primum offerre peccatis, deinde pro populi.

[26] But willing to show that His city would not then be in this custom, God said that the sons of Levi would offer sacrificial victims in justice; not, therefore, in sin, and thus not for sin. Whence it can be understood, in that which he next subjoined and said, “And the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in former days and as in prior years,” that the Jews, according to the law of the Old Testament, promise to themselves in vain the bygone times of their sacrifices. For they were then not offering victims in justice, but in sins, since they offered chiefly and first for sins, to such an extent that the priest himself—whom we ought surely to believe was more just than the others—according to the command of God was accustomed first to offer for his own sins, then for the people’s.

Quapropter exponere nos oportet, quo modo sit accipiendum quod dictum est: Sicut diebus pristinis et sicut annis prioribus. Fortassis enim tempus illud commemorat, quo primi homines in paradiso fuerunt. Tunc enim puri atque integri ab omni sorde ac labe peccati se ipsos Deo mundissimas hostias offerebant; ceterum ex quo commissae praeuaricationis causa inde dimissi sunt atque humana in eis natura damnata est, excepto uno Mediatore et post lauacrum regenerationis quibusque adhuc paruulis nemo mundus a sorde, sicut scriptum est, nec infans, cuius est unius diei uita super terram.

Wherefore we ought to expound in what manner that which has been said is to be received: “As in former days and as in prior years.” Perhaps indeed it commemorates that time when the first humans were in paradise. For then, pure and whole from every filth and stain of sin, they offered themselves to God as most spotless sacrifices; but from the time that, on account of the committed transgression, they were sent away from there and human nature in them was condemned, with the exception of the one Mediator, and, after the laver of regeneration, to any who are still little ones, no one is clean from filth, as it is written, not even the infant whose life is of one day upon the earth.

Quod si respondetur etiam eos merito dici posse offerre hostias in iustitia, qui offerunt in fide (iustus enim ex fide uiuit; quamuis se ipsum seducat, si dixerit se non habere peccatum, et ideo non dicat, quia ex fide uiuit): numquid dicturus est quispiam hoc fidei tempus illi fini esse coaequandum, quando igne iudicii nouissimi mundabuntur, qui offerant hostias in iustitia? Ac per hoc quoniam post talem mundationem nullum peccatum iustos habituros esse credendum est, profecto illud tempus, quantum adtinet ad non habere peccatum, nulli tempori comparandum est, nisi quando primi homines in paradiso ante praeuaricationem innocentissima felicitate uixerunt. Recte itaque intellegitur hoc significatum esse, cum dictum est: Sicut diebus pristinis et sicut annis prioribus.

But if it is answered that those too may deservedly be said to offer sacrifices in justice who offer in faith (for the just lives by faith; although he deceives himself if he says that he has no sin, and therefore let him not say it, because he lives by faith): will anyone say that this time of faith is to be made equal to that end, when those who offer sacrifices in justice will be cleansed by the fire of the last judgment? And therefore, since after such a cleansing the just are to be believed to have no sin, that time, so far as pertains to not having sin, is to be compared with no time except when the first humans lived in paradise before the prevarication, in most-innocent felicity. Rightly, therefore, it is understood that this was signified when it was said: As in the former days and as in the earlier years.

Nam et per Esaiam postea quam caelum nouum et terra noua promissa est, inter cetera, quae ibi de sanctorum beatitudine per allegorias et aenigmata exequitur, quibus expositionem congruam reddere nos prohibuit uitandae longitudinis cura: Secundum dies, inquit, ligni uitae erunt dies populi mei. Quis autem sacras litteras adtigit et ignorat ubi Deus plantauerit lignum uitae, a cuius cibo separatis illis hominibus, quando eos sua de paradiso eiecit iniquitas, eidem ligno circumposita est ignea terribilisque custodia?

For also through Isaiah, after the new heaven and the new earth have been promised, among the other things which he there carries out concerning the blessedness of the saints by allegories and enigmas—matters for which the care of avoiding prolixity has forbidden us to render a congruent exposition—he says: According to the days, says he, of the tree of life shall be the days of my people. But who has touched the sacred letters and is ignorant where God planted the tree of life, from whose food, when their iniquity cast them out from His paradise, those men were separated, and around that same tree a fiery and terrible guard was set?

Quod si quisquam illos dies ligni uitae, quos commemorauit propheta Esaias, istos qui nunc aguntur ecclesiae Christi dies esse contendit ipsumque Christum lignum uitae prophetice dictum, quia ipsa est sapientia Dei, de qua Salomon ait: Lignum uitae est omnibus amplectentibus eam; nec annos egisse aliquos in paradiso illos primos homines, unde tam cito eiecti sunt, ut nullum ibi gignerent filium, et ideo non posse illud tempus intellegi in eo quod dictum est: Sicut diebus pristinis et sicut annis prioribus; istam praetereo quaestionem, ne cogar, quod prolixum est, cuncta discutere, ut aliquid horum ueritas manifestata confirmet. Video quippe alterum sensum, ne dies pristinos et annos priores carnalium sacrificiorum nobis pro magno munere per prophetam promissos fuisse credamus. Hostiae namque illae ueteris legis in quibusque pecoribus inmaculatae ac sine ullo prorsus uitio iubebantur offerri, et significabant homines sanctos, qualis solus inuentus est Christus, sine ullo omnino peccato.

If anyone should contend that those days of the tree of life, which the prophet Isaiah commemorated, are these days which are now being spent by the Church of Christ, and that Christ himself is said prophetically to be the tree of life, since he is the very Wisdom of God, of which Solomon says: “She is a tree of life to all who embrace her”; and that those first human beings did not pass any years in paradise, whence they were so quickly cast out that they begot no son there, and therefore that time cannot be understood in that which was said: “As in former days and as in prior years”; I pass over this question, lest I be compelled—what would be prolix—to discuss everything, so that the manifested truth may confirm something of these. For I see another sense, lest we believe that the former days and prior years of carnal sacrifices were promised to us through the prophet as a great boon. For those host-offerings of the old law, immaculate and without any defect whatsoever in each kind of cattle, were commanded to be offered, and they signified holy men—of which sort Christ alone was found—without any sin at all.

Proinde quia post iudicium, cum fuerint etiam igne mundati, qui eius modi mundatione sunt digni, in omnibus sanctis nullum inuenietur omnino peccatum, atque ita se ipsos offerent in iustitia, ut tales hostiae omni modo inmaculatae ac sine ullo uitio sint futurae, erunt profecto sicut pristinis diebus et sicut annis prioribus, quando in umbra huius rei futurae mundissimae offerebantur hostiae. Haec erit namque munditia tunc in inmortali carne ac mente sanctorum, quae figurabatur in illarum corporibus hostiarum.

Accordingly, because after the judgment, when those who are worthy of such a purification will also have been cleansed by fire, in all the saints no sin at all will be found, and thus they will offer themselves in righteousness, so that the sacrificial victims will be in every way immaculate and without any defect; they will indeed be as in the former days and as in the earlier years, when, in the shadow of this future reality, most pure victims were being offered. For this will be the purity then in the immortal flesh and mind of the saints, which was being figured (prefigured) in the bodies of those victims.

Deinde propter eos, qui non mundatione, sed damnatione sunt digni: Et accedam, inquit, ad uos in iudicium, et ero testis uelox super maleficos et super adulteros, et cetera, quibus damnabilibus enumeratis criminibus addidit: Quoniam ego Dominus Deus uester, et non mutor; tamquam diceret: " Cum uos mutauerit et in deterius culpa uestra et in melius gratia mea, ego non mutor. "Testem uero se dicit futurum, quia in iudicio suo non indiget testibus, eumque uelocem, siue quia repente uenturus est eritque iudicium ipso inopinato eius aduentu celerrimum, quod tardissimum uidebatur, siue quia ipsas conuincet sine ulla sermonis prolixitate conscientias. In cogitationibus enim, sicut scriptum est, impii interrogatio erit; et apostolus: Cogitationibus, inquit, accusantibus uel etiam excusantibus in die, qua iudicabit Deus occulta hominum, secundum euangelium meum per Iesum Christum.

Then, on account of those who are worthy not of purification but of damnation: “And I will draw near,” he says, “to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against malefactors and against adulterers,” and the rest; and when he had enumerated the crimes that are damnable, he added: “For I am the Lord your God, and I do not change”; as if he were saying: “When your own fault changes you for the worse and my grace for the better, I do not change.” He says, indeed, that he will be a witness, because in his own judgment he has no need of witnesses; and that he will be swift, either because he will come suddenly and the judgment will be most rapid by the very unlooked-for arrival of him which seemed most slow, or because he will convict consciences themselves without any prolixity of speech. For “in thoughts,” as it is written, “the interrogation of the impious will be”; and the apostle: “their thoughts,” he says, “accusing or even excusing them on the day when God will judge the hidden things of humans, according to my gospel through Jesus Christ.”

Etiam sic ergo Dominus futurus testis intellegendus est uelox, cum sine mora reuocaturus est in memoriam, unde conuincat puniatque conscientiam.

Even so, therefore, the Lord is to be understood as a swift witness, since, without delay, he is going to recall into memory that from which he may convict and punish the conscience.

[XXVII] Illud etiam, quod aliud agens in octauo decimo libro ex isto propheta posui, ad iudicium.nouissimum pertinet, ubi ait: Erunt mihi, dicit Dominus omnipotens, in die qua ego facio in adquisitionem, et eligam eos sicut eligit homo filium suum quo seruit ei; et conuertar et uidebitis quid sit inter iustum et iniquum, et inter seruientem Deo et eum qui non seruit ei. Quia ecce dies uenit ardens sicut clibanus et comburet eos, et erunt omnes alienigenae et uniuersi, qui faciunt iniquitatem, stipula, et succendet eos dies ueniens, dicit Dominus omnipotens, et non relinquetur in eis radix neque ramus. Et orietur uobis, qui timetis nomen meum, sol iustitiae, et sanitas in pinnis eius, et egrediemini et salidis sicut uituli de uinculis relaxati; et conculcabitis iniquos, et erunt cinis sub pedibus uestris, dicit Dominus omnipotens. Haec distantia praemiorum atque poenarum iustos dirimens ab iniustis, quae sub io sole in huius uitae uanitate non cernitur, quando sub illo sole iustitiae in illius uitae manifestatione clarebit, tunc profecto erit iudicium quale numquam fuit.

[27] That also, which, while dealing with something else in the eighteenth book, I set down from this prophet, pertains to the latest judgment, where he says: “They shall be mine, says the Lord Almighty, on the day when I make [them] for acquisition, and I will choose them as a man chooses his son who serves him; and I will turn, and you shall see what is between the just man and the iniquitous, and between the one serving God and the one who does not serve him. For behold, a day comes, burning like a furnace, and it will burn them up, and all aliens and all who do iniquity will be as stubble, and the coming day will set them ablaze, says the Lord Almighty, and neither root nor branch will be left in them. But for you who fear my name the sun of justice will rise, and healing in its wings, and you shall go out and leap like calves released from bonds; and you shall trample the iniquitous, and they shall be ash under your feet, says the Lord Almighty.” This distance of rewards and punishments, separating the just from the unjust, which under this sun in the vanity of this life is not discerned, when under that sun of justice in the manifestation of that life it shall shine forth, then indeed there will be a judgment such as never was.

[XXVIII] Quod uero subiungit idem propheta: Mementote legis Moysi seruo meo, quam mandaui ei in Choreb ad omnem Israel, praecepta et iudicia oportune commemorat post declaratum futurum tam magnum inter obseruatores legis contemptoresque discrimen; simul etiam ut discant legem spiritaliter intellegere et inueniant in ea Christum, per quem iudicem facienda est inter bonos et malos ipsa discretio. Non enim frustra idem Dominus ait Iudaeis: Si crederetis Moysi, crederetis et mihi; de me enim ille scripsit. Carnaliter quippe accipiendo legem et eius promissa terrena rerum caelestium figuras esse nescientes in illa murmura conruerunt, ut dicere auderent: Vanus est qui seruit Deo, et quid amplius, quia custodiuimus mandata eius et quia ambulauimus supplices ante faciem Domini omnipotentis?

[28] What moreover the same prophet subjoins: “Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, the precepts and the judgments,” he opportunely commemorates after the declaration of the future so great discrimination between the observers of the law and the despisers; at the same time also, that they may learn to understand the law spiritually and may find in it Christ, through whom, as Judge, that very discretion is to be made between the good and the evil. For not in vain did the same Lord say to the Jews: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me also; for he wrote of me.” For indeed, by receiving the law carnally and its promises as earthly, not knowing that they are figures of heavenly things, they collapsed into those murmurings, so that they dared to say: “Vain is he who serves God, and what more, because we have kept his commandments and because we have walked as suppliants before the face of the Lord omnipotent?”

Et nunc nos beatos dicimus alienos, et aedificantur omnes qui faciunt iniquitatem. Quibus eorum uerbis quodam modo propheta compulsus est nouissimum praenuntiare iudicium, ubi mali nec saltem falso sint beati, sed apertissime miserrimi appareant, et boni nulla temporali saltem miseria laborent, sed clara ac sempiterna beatitudine perfruantur. Dixerat quippe istorum talia quaedam uerba etiam superius dicentium: Omnis, qui facit malum, bonus est in conspectu Domini, et tales ei placent.

And now we call the alien ones blessed, and all who practice iniquity are built up. By which words of theirs the prophet was, in a certain manner, compelled to foretell the final judgment, where the evil are not even blessed falsely, but appear most plainly most wretched, and the good suffer from no temporal misery at least, but enjoy a clear and everlasting beatitude. For indeed he had said also above certain such words of those who say: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please him.

Ad haec, inquam, contra Deum murmura peruenerunt legem Moysi accipiendo carnaliter. Vnde et ille in psalmo septuagensimo secundo paene commotos dicit fuisse pedes suos et effusos gressus suos, utique in lapsum, quia zelauit in peccatoribus, pacem peccatorum intuens; ita ut inter cetera diceret: Quo modo sciuit Deus, et si est scientia in Altissimo? diceret etiam: Numquid uano iustificaui cor meum et laui in innocentibus manus meas?

To this, I say, the murmurs against God arose from receiving the law of Moses carnally. Whence also he in the seventy-second psalm says that his feet had been almost moved and his steps poured out—indeed, into a fall—because he grew jealous of sinners, beholding the peace of sinners; so that among other things he would say: How did God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High? he would also say: Have I justified my heart in vain and washed my hands among the innocent?

Vt autem solueret hanc difficillimam quaestionem, quae fit, cum uidentur boni esse miseri et felices mali: Hoc, inquit, labor est ante me, donec introeam in sanctuarium Dei et intellegam in nouissima. Iudicio quippe nouissimo non sic erit; sed in aperta iniquorum miseria et aperta felicitate iustorum longe quam nunc est aliud apparebit.

But in order to solve this most difficult question, which arises when the good seem to be miserable and the evil happy: “This,” he says, “is toil before me, until I enter into the sanctuary of God and understand in the last things.” For at the last judgment it will not be thus; but in the open misery of the iniquitous and the open felicity of the just something far different from what now is will appear.

[XXIX] Cum autem admonuisset, ut meminissent legis Moysi (quoniam praeuidebat eos multo adhuc tempore non eam spiritaliter, sicut oportuerat, accepturos), continuo subiecit: ecce ego mittam uobis Helian Thesbiten, antequam ueniat dies Domini magnus et inlustris, qui conuertet cor patris ad filium et cor hominis ad proximum suum, ne forte ueniens percutiam terram penitus. Per hunc Heliam magnum mirabilemque prophetam exposita sibi lege ultimo tempore ante iudicium Iudaeos in Christum uerum, id est in Christum nostrum, esse credituros, celeberrimum est in sermonibus cordibusque fidelium. Ipse quippe ante aduentum iudicis Saluatoris non inmerito speratur esse uenturus, qui etiam nunc uiuere non inmerito creditur.

[29] But when he had admonished that they should remember the law of Moses (since he foresaw that for a long time yet they would not receive it spiritually, as it ought to be), straightway he subjoined: behold, I will send to you Elijah the Tishbite, before there comes the great and illustrious day of the Lord, who will convert the heart of the father to the son and the heart of a man to his neighbor, lest perhaps, on coming, I strike the land utterly. Through this Elijah, the great and wondrous prophet, with the law expounded to them, the Jews are, in the last time before the judgment, to believe in the true Christ, that is, in our Christ—this is most celebrated in the sermons and hearts of the faithful. For he himself, before the advent of the Judge, the Savior, is not without reason hoped to be going to come, who even now is not without reason believed to live.

Curru namque igneo raptus est de rebus humanis, quod euidentissime sancta scriptura testatur. Cum uenerit ergo, exponendo legem spiritaliter; quam nunc Iudaei carnaliter sapiunt, conuertet cor patris ad filium, id est cor patrum ad filios; singularem quippe pro numero plurali interpretes septuaginta posuerunt; et est sensus, ut etiam filii sic intellegant legem, id est Iudaei, quem ad modum eam patres intellexerunt, id est prophetae, in quibus erat et ipse Moyses; sic enim cor patrum conuertetur ad filios, cum intellegentia patrum perducetur ad intellegentiam filiorum; et cor filiorum ad patres eorum, dum in id, quod senserunt illi, consentiunt et isti; ubi Septuaginta dixerunt: Et cor hominis ad proximum suum. Sunt enim inter se ualde proximi patres et filii.

For he was rapt from human affairs in a fiery chariot, which the holy Scripture most evidently attests. When therefore he shall come, by expounding the law spiritually; which the Jews now understand carnally, he will turn the heart of the father to the son, that is, the heart of the fathers to the sons; for the Seventy interpreters put the singular for the plural number; and the sense is, that the sons also may understand the law thus, that is, the Jews, in the manner in which the fathers understood it, that is, the prophets, among whom was Moses himself; for thus the heart of the fathers will be turned to the sons, when the intelligence of the fathers will be led through to the intelligence of the sons; and the heart of the sons to their fathers, while these also consent to that which those held; where the Seventy said: Et cor hominis ad proximum suum. For fathers and sons are very proximate to one another.

Quamquam in uerbis septuaginta interpretum, qui prophetice interpretati sunt, potest alius sensus idemque lectior inueniri, ut intellegatur Helias cor Dei Patris conuersurus ad Filium; non utique agendo ut Pater diligat Filium, sed docendo quod Pater diligat Filium; ut et Iudaei, quem prius oderant, diligant eundem, qui noster est, Christum. Iudaeis enim nunc auersum cor habet Deus a Christo nostro, quia hoc putant. Eis ergo tunc cor eius conuertetur ad Filium, cum ipsi conuerso corde didicerint dilectionem Patris in Filium.

Although in the words of the seventy interpreters, who interpreted prophetically, another sense can be found, and a more select one, namely that Helias is going to turn the heart of God the Father to the Son—not, to be sure, by acting so that the Father should love the Son, but by teaching that the Father loves the Son—so that the Jews too may love the same Christ, who is ours, whom before they hated. For the Jews now think that God has an averted heart from our Christ, because they suppose this. To them, therefore, then his heart will be turned to the Son, when they, their own heart turned, shall have learned the love of the Father toward the Son.

Quod uero sequitur: Et cor hominis ad proximum suum, id est, conuertet Helias et cor hominis ad proximum suum: quid melius intellegitur quam cor hominis ad hominem Christum? Cum enim sit in forma Dei Deus noster, formam serui accipiens esse dignatus est etiam proximus noster. Hoc ergo faciet Helias.

But as for what follows: And the heart of man to his neighbor, that is, Elijah will also turn the heart of man to his neighbor: what is better understood than the heart of man to the man Christ? For although he is in the form of God, our God, by taking the form of a servant he deigned also to be our neighbor. This, therefore, Elijah will do.

Ne forte, inquit, ueniam et percutiam terram penitus. Terra sunt enim, qui terrena sapiunt, sicut Iudaei carnales usque nunc; ex quo uitio contra Deum murmura illa uenerunt: Quia mali ei placent, et: Vanus est qui seruit Deo.

"Lest perhaps," he says, "I come and smite the land utterly." For "earth" are they who mind the things of earth, just as the carnal Jews up to now; from which vice those murmurs against God came: "Because the wicked are pleasing to him," and: "Vain is he who serves God."

[XXX] Multa alia sunt scripturarum testimonia diuinarum de nouissimo iudicio Dei, quae si omnia colligam, nimis longum erit. Satis ergo sit, quod et nouis et ueteribus litteris sacris hoc praenuntiatum esse probauimus. Sed ueteribus per Christum futurum esse iudicium, id est iudicem Christum de caelo esse uenturum, non tam, quam nouis, euidenter expressum est, propterea quia, cum ibi dicit Dominus Deus se esse uenturum uel Dominum Deum dicitur esse uenturum, non consequenter intellegitur Christus.

[30] There are many other testimonies of the divine Scriptures about the most recent Judgment of God; if I gather them all, it will be too long. Let it therefore suffice that we have proved this to have been pre-announced both in the New and in the Old sacred letters. But in the Old, that the judgment would be in the future through Christ—that is, that the judge Christ would come from heaven—is not so evidently expressed as in the New, for this reason: because when there the Lord God says that he is going to come, or the Lord God is said to be going to come, Christ is not consequently understood.

Dominus enim Deus et Pater est et Filius et Spiritus sanctus; neque hoc tamen intestatum relinquere nos oportet. Primo itaque demonstrandum est, quem ad modum Iesus Christus tamquam Dominus Deus loquatur in propheticis libris, et tamen Iesus Christus euidenter appareat, ut et quando non sic apparet et tamen ad illud ultimum iudicium Dominus Deus dicitur esse uenturus, possit Iesus Christus intellegi. Est locus apud Esaiam prophetam, qui hoc quod dico euidenter ostendit.

For the Lord God is Father and Son and Holy Spirit; nor ought we, however, to leave this unspoken. Therefore, first it must be demonstrated in what manner Jesus Christ speaks as Lord God in the prophetic books, and yet Jesus Christ appears evidently, so that also when he does not thus appear, and yet the Lord God is said to be about to come to that last judgment, Jesus Christ can be understood. There is a passage in the prophet Isaiah which clearly shows this that I am saying.

Deus enim per prophetam: Audi me, inquit, Iacob et Israel quem ego uoco. Ego sum primus et ego in sempiternum, et manus mea fundauit terram et dextera mea firmauit caelum. Vocabo eos, et stabunt simul, et congregabuntur omnes et audient.

For God through the prophet: Hear me, says he, Jacob and Israel whom I call. I am the first, and I am for ever; and my hand founded the earth, and my right hand made firm the heaven. I will call them, and they will stand together, and all will be gathered together and will hear.

Quis ei nuntiauit haec? Diligens te feci uoluntatem tuam super Babylonem, ut auferrem semen Chaldaeorum. Et locutus sum et ego uocaui; adduxi eum et prosperam feci uiam eius.

Who declared these things to him? Loving you, I have done your will upon Babylon, so that I might remove the seed of the Chaldeans. And I spoke, and I called; I brought him, and I made his way prosperous.

Accedite ad me et audite haec. Non a principio in abscondito locutus sum; quando fiebant, ibi eram. Et nunc Dominus Deus misit me et Spiritus eius.

Approach to me and hear these things. Not from the beginning have I spoken in secret; when they were coming to be, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

Nempe ipse est, qui loquebatur sicut Dominus Deus; nec tamen intellegeretur Iesus Christus, nisi addidisset: Et nunc Dominus Deus misit me et Spiritus eius. Dixit hoc enim secundum formam serui, de re futura utens praeteriti temporis uerbo, quem ad modum apud eundem prophetam legitur: Sicut ouis ad immolandum ductus est. Non enim ait: "ducetur", sed pro eo, quod futurum erat, praeteriti temporis uerbum posuit.

Surely it is he himself, who was speaking as the Lord God; nor yet would Jesus Christ be understood, unless he had added: And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit. For he said this according to the form of a servant, about a future matter using a verb of past time, in the manner in which it is read in the same prophet: Like a sheep he was led to be immolated. For he does not say: "he will be led," but for that which was to be, he placed a verb of past time.

Et assidue prophetia sic loquitur.

And prophecy continually speaks thus.

Est alius locus apud Zachariam, qui hoc euidenter ostendit, quod omnipotentem misit omnipotens: quis quem, nisi Deus Pater Deum Filium? Nam ita scriptum est: Haec dicit Dominus omnipotens: Post gloriam misit me super gentes, quae spoliauerunt uos; quia qui tetigerit uos, quasi tangat pupillam oculi eius. Ecce ego inferam manum meam super eos, et erunt spolia his, qui seruierant eis; et cognoscetis quia Dominus omnipotens misit me. Ecce dicit Dominus omnipotens a Domino omnipotente se missum.

There is another passage in Zechariah which clearly shows this: that the Omnipotent sent the Omnipotent—who sent whom, if not God the Father [sent] God the Son? For thus it is written: These things says the Omnipotent Lord: After glory he has sent me over the nations who despoiled you; because whoever shall have touched you, it is as though he were touching the pupil of his eye. Behold, I will bring my hand against them, and they shall be spoil for those who had served them; and you shall know that the Omnipotent Lord has sent me. Behold, the Omnipotent Lord says that he has been sent by the Omnipotent Lord.

Quis hic audeat intellegere nisi Christum loquentem, scilicet ouibus quae perierant domus Israel? Ait namque in euangelio: Non sum missus nisi ad oues quae perierunt domus Israel; quas hic comparauit pupillae oculi Dei propter excellentissimum dilectionis affectum; ex quo genere ouium etiam ipsi apostoli fuerunt. Sed post gloriam resurrectionis utique suae (quae antequam fieret, ait euangelista: Iesus nondum erat glorificatus) etiam super gentes missus est in apostolis suis, ac sic impletum est quod in psalmo legitur: Erues me de contradictionibus populi, constitues me in caput gentium, ut, qui spoliauerant Israelitas quibusque Israelitae seruierant, quando sunt gentibus subditi, non uicissim eodem modo spoliarentur, sed ipsi spolia fierent Israelitarum (hoc enim apostolis promiserat dicens: Faciam uos piscatores hominum, et uni eorum: Ex hoc iam, inquit, homines eris capiens); spolia ergo fierent, sed in bonum, tamquam erepta uasa illi forti, sed fortius alligato.

Who here would dare to understand anyone except Christ speaking, namely to the sheep that had perished of the house of Israel? For he says in the gospel: I was not sent except to the sheep that have perished of the house of Israel; which he here compared to the pupil of the eye of God on account of the most excellent affection of love; from which kind of sheep even the apostles themselves were. But after the glory of his resurrection (which, before it happened, the evangelist says: Jesus had not yet been glorified) he was also sent over the nations in his apostles, and thus there was fulfilled what is read in the psalm: You will draw me out from the contradictions of the people, you will set me as head of the nations, so that those who had despoiled the Israelites and those whom the Israelites had served, when they are subject to the nations, might not in turn be despoiled in the same way, but they themselves might become the spoils of the Israelites (for this he had promised to the apostles, saying: I will make you fishers of men, and to one of them: From now on, he says, you will be catching men); therefore they would become spoils, but for good, as vessels snatched from that strong one, but with the Stronger bound.

Item per eundem prophetam Dominus loquens: Et erit, inquit, in die illa quaeram auferre omnes gentes quae ueniunt contra Hierusalem, et effundam super domum Dauid et super habitatores Hierusalem spiritum gratiae et misericordiae; et aspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt, et plangent super eo planctum quasi super carissimum, et dolebunt dolore quasi super unigenitum. Numquid nisi Dei est auferre omnes gentes inimicas sanctae ciuitatis Hierusalem, quae ueniunt contra eam, id est contrariae sunt ei, uel, sicut alii sunt interpretati, ueniunt super eam, id est, ut eam sibi subiciant; aut effundere super domum Dauid et super habitatores eiusdem ciuitatis spiritum gratiae et misericordiae? Hoc utique Dei est, et ex persona Dei dicitur per prophetam; et tamen hunc Deum haec tam magna et tam diuina facientem se Christus ostendit adiungendo atque dicendo: Et aspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt, et plangent super eo planctum quasi super carissimum (siue dilectum) et dolebunt dolore quasi super unigenitum.

Likewise through the same prophet the Lord speaking: “And it shall be, he says, in that day I will seek to remove all the nations who come against Jerusalem, and I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and mercy; and they shall look unto me for that in which they insulted, and they shall lament over him a lament as over a most dear one, and they shall grieve a grief as over an only-begotten.” Is it not of God alone to remove all the nations hostile to the holy city Jerusalem, who come against it, that is, are contrary to it, or, as others have interpreted, come upon it, that is, to subject it to themselves; or to pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of that same city the spirit of grace and mercy? This is assuredly of God, and is said through the prophet in the person of God; and yet Christ shows himself to be this God doing such great and such divine things by appending and saying: “And they shall look unto me for that in which they insulted, and they shall lament over him a lament as over a most dear one (or beloved) and they shall grieve a grief as over an only-begotten.”

Paenitebit quippe Iudaeos in die illa, etiam eos, qui accepturi sunt spiritum gratiae et misericordiae, quod in eius passione insultauerint Christo, cum ad eum aspexerint in sua maiestate uenientem eumque esse cognouerint, quem prius humilem in suis parentibus inluserunt; quamuis et ipsi parentes eorum tantae illius impietatis auctores resurgentes uidebunt eum, sed puniendi iam, non adhuc corrigendi. Non itaque hoc loco ipsi intellegendi sunt, ubi dictum est: Et effundam super domum Dauid et super habitatores Hierusalem spiritum gratiae et misericordiae; et aspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt; sed tamen de illorum stirpe uenientes, qui per Heliam illo tempore credituri sunt. Sed sicut dicimus Iudaeis: "Vos occidistis Christum", quamuis hoc parentes eorum fecerint: sic et isti se dolebunt fecisse quodam modo, quod fecerunt illi, ex quorum stirpe descendunt.

It will, to be sure, repent the Jews on that day, even those who are going to receive the spirit of grace and mercy, that in his Passion they insulted Christ, when they look upon him coming in his own majesty and have recognized him to be the one whom previously, humble in his parents, they mocked; although their very parents, authors of that so great impiety, rising again will see him, but now for punishment, not any longer for correction. Therefore in this place they themselves are not to be understood, where it was said: And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and mercy; and they will look upon me for that wherein they insulted; but rather those coming from their stock, who through Elijah at that time are going to believe. But just as we say to the Jews: "You killed Christ," although their parents did this, so also these will grieve that they themselves in a certain way have done what those did, from whose stock they descend.

Quamuis ergo accepto spiritu gratiae et misericordiae iam fideles non damnabuntur cum impiis parentibus suis, dolebunt tamen tamquam ipsi fecerint, quod ab illis factum est. Non igitur dolebunt reatu criminis, sed pietatis affectu. Sane ubi dixerunt septuaginta interpretes: Et aspicient ad me pro eo quod insultauerunt, sic interpretatum est ex Hebraeo: Et aspicient ad me, quem confixerunt; quo quidem uerbo euidentius Christus crucifixus apparet.

Although, therefore, with the spirit of grace and mercy received, the faithful will no longer be condemned with their impious parents, yet they will grieve as though they themselves had done what was done by them. They will not, therefore, grieve by the charge of the crime, but by an affection of piety. Indeed, where the Seventy interpreters said: "And they shall look upon me on account of that in which they insulted," thus it is interpreted from the Hebrew: "And they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced"; by which word indeed Christ crucified appears more evidently.

Sed illa insultatio, quam septuaginta ponere maluerunt, eius uniuersae non defuit passioni. Nam et detento et alligato et adiudicato et opprobrio ignominiosae uestis induto et spinis coronato et calamo in capite percusso et inridenter fixis genibus adorato et crucem suam portanti et in ligno iam pendenti utique insultauerunt. Proinde interpretationem non sequentes unam, sed utramque iungentes, cum et insultauerunt et confixerunt legimus, plenius ueritatem dominicae passionis agnoscimus.

But that insultation which the Seventy preferred to set down was not lacking to his whole Passion. For they indeed insulted him when he was detained and bound and adjudicated, and when he was clothed with the opprobrium of an ignominious garment, and crowned with thorns, and struck on the head with a reed, and, in derision, with knees fixed, adored him, and when he was carrying his own cross, and when he was already hanging on the wood. Accordingly, not following one interpretation but conjoining both, since we read both that they insulted and that they transfixed, we more fully acknowledge the truth of the Lord’s Passion.

Cum ergo in propheticis litteris ad nouissimum iudicium faciendum Deus legitur esse uenturus, etsi eius alia distinctio non ponatur, tantummodo propter ipsum iudicium Christus debet intellegi, quia etsi Pater iudicabit, per aduentum filii hominis iudicabit. Nam ipse per suae praesentiae manifestationem non iudicat quemquam, sed omne iudicium dedit Filio, qui manifestabitur homo iudicaturus, sicut homo est iudicatus. Quis est enim alius, de quo item Deus loquitur per Esaiam sub nomine Iacob et Israel, de cuius semine corpus accepit?

When therefore in the prophetic letters God is read as going to come for the final judgment to be made, even if no other distinction of him is set forth, solely on account of the judgment itself Christ ought to be understood; because even if the Father will judge, he will judge through the advent of the Son of Man. For he himself does not judge anyone by the manifestation of his presence, but has given all judgment to the Son, who will be manifested as man about to judge, just as as man he was judged. For who is there other, of whom likewise God speaks through Isaiah under the name Jacob and Israel, from whose seed he received a body?

quod. ita scriptum est: Iacob puer meus, suscipiam illum; Israel electus meus, adsumpsit eum anima mea. Dedi Spiritum meum in illum, iudicium gentibus proferet.

which. thus it is written: Jacob my servant, I will receive him; Israel my chosen, my soul has assumed him. I have given my Spirit into him, he will proffer judgment to the nations.

Non clamabit neque cessabit neque audietur foris uox eius. Calamum quassatum non conteret et linum fumans non extinguet; sed in ueritate proferet iudicium. Refulgebit et non confringetur, donec ponat in terra iudicium; et in nomine eius gentes sperabunt.

He will not cry out nor cease, nor will his voice be heard outside. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoldering flax he will not extinguish; but in truth he will bring forth judgment. He will shine forth and will not be broken, until he sets judgment in the earth; and in his name the nations will hope.

In Hebraeo non legitur Iacob et Israel; sed quod ibi legitur seruus meus, nimirum septuaginta interpretes uolentes admonere quatenus id accipiendum sit, quia scilicet propter formam serui dictum est, in qua se Altissimus humillimum praebuit, ipsius hominis nomen ad eum significandum posuerunt, de cuius genere eadem serui forma suscepta est. Datus est in eum Spiritus sanctus, quod et columbae specie euangelio teste monstratum est; iudicium gentibus protulit, quia praenuntiauit futurum, quod gentibus erat occultum; mansuetudine non clamauit, nec tamen in .praedicanda ueritate cessauit; sed non est audita foris uox eius nec auditur, quando quidem ab eis, qui foris ab eius corpore praecisi sunt, non illi oboeditur; ipsosque suos persecutores Iudaeos, qui calamo quassato perdita integritate, lino fumanti amisso lumine comparati sunt, non contriuit, non extinxit, quia pepercit eis, qui nondum uenerat eos iudicare, sed iudicari ab eis. In ueritate sane protulit iudicium praedicens eis, quando puniendi essent, si in sua malignitate persisterent.

In the Hebrew it does not read Jacob and Israel; but what is read there is “my servant,” clearly because the seventy interpreters, wishing to admonish how this is to be taken—namely, that it was said on account of the form of a servant, in which the Most High showed himself most humble—set the name of that man to signify him, from whose lineage the same form of a servant was assumed. The Holy Spirit was given into him, which also was shown in the species of a dove, the Gospel being witness; he brought forth judgment to the Gentiles, because he foretold what was to come, which was hidden to the Gentiles; in meekness he did not cry out, nor yet did he cease in preaching the truth; but his voice was not heard outside, nor is it heard, since indeed by those who are outside, cut off from his body, he is not obeyed; and his very persecutors, the Jews, who are compared to a bruised reed, integrity having been lost, and to smoking flax, the light having been lost, he did not crush, he did not extinguish, because he spared them—he who had not yet come to judge them, but to be judged by them. In truth, indeed, he brought forth judgment, foretelling to them when they would be punished, if they persisted in their malignity.

Refulsit in monte facies eius, in orbe fama eius; nec confractus siue contritus est, quia neque in se neque in ecclesia sua, ut esse desisteret, persecutoribus cessit; et ideo non est factum nec fiet, quod inimici eius dixerunt uel dicunt: Quando morietur et peribit nomen eius? — Donec ponat in terra iudicium. Ecce manifestatum est quod absconditum quaerebamus; hoc enim est nouissimum iudicium, quod ponet in terra, cum uenerit ipse de caelo, de quo iam uidemus impletum, quod hic ultimum positum est: Et in nomine eius gentes sperabunt.

His face shone forth on the mountain, his fame in the orb; nor was he broken or crushed, because neither in himself nor in his church did he yield to persecutors, so that he should cease to be; and therefore it has not come to pass nor will come to pass, what his enemies said or say: “When will he die and his name perish?” — Until he sets judgment on the earth. Behold, what we were seeking hidden has been manifested; for this is the final judgment, which he will set on the earth, when he himself shall have come from heaven, of which we already see fulfilled that which is set here last: And in his name the nations will hope.

Per hoc certe quod negari non potest etiam illud credatur quod inpudenter negatur. Quis enim speraret, quod etiam hi, qui nolunt adhuc credere in Christum, iam nobiscum uident et, quoniam negare non possunt, dentibus suis frendent et tabescunt? Quis, inquam, speraret gentes in Christi nomine speraturas, quando tenebatur ligabatur, caedebatur inludebatur, crucifigebatur, quando et ipsi discipuli spem perdiderant, quam in illo habere iam coeperant?

By this, surely, from what cannot be denied, let that also be believed which is impudently denied. For who would have hoped that even those who are unwilling as yet to believe in Christ now see along with us, and, since they cannot deny it, they gnash with their teeth and waste away? Who, I say, would have hoped that the nations would hope in the name of Christ, when he was being held, bound, beaten, mocked, was being crucified—when even the disciples themselves had lost the hope which they had already begun to have in him?

Quod tunc uix unus latro sperauit in cruce, nunc sperant gentes longe lateque diffusae, et ne in aeternum moriantur, ipsa in qua ille mortuus est cruce signantur.

What then scarcely one robber hoped on the cross, now the nations, spread far and wide, hope; and lest they die for ever, with the very cross on which he died they are signed.

Nullus igitur uel negat uel dubitat per Christum Iesum tale, quale istis sacris litteris praenuntiatur, nouissimum futurum esse iudicium, nisi qui eisdem litteris nescio qua incredibili animositate seu caecitate non credit, quae iam ueritatem suam orbi demonstrauere terrarum. In illo itaque iudicio uel circa illud iudicium has res didicimus esse uenturas, Helian Tbesbiten, fidem Iudaeorum, Antichristum persecuturum, Christum iudicaturum, mortuorum resurrectionem, bonorum malorumque diremptionem, mundi conflagrationem eiusdemque renouationem. Quae omnia quidem uentura esse credendum est; sed quibus modis et quo ordine ueniant, magis tunc docebit rerum experientia, quam nunc ad perfectum hominum intellegentia ualet consequi.

Nullus therefore either denies or doubts, through Christ Jesus, that such a final judgment as is pre-announced by those sacred letters will be, unless it be one who, with some I-know-not-what incredible animosity or blindness, does not believe those same letters, which have already demonstrated their truth to the whole world. In that judgment, therefore, or about that judgment, we have learned that these things are to come, Elijah the Thesbite, the faith of the Jews, Antichrist to persecute, Christ to judge, the resurrection of the dead, the diremption of the good and the evil, the world’s conflagration and its renovation. All of which indeed are to be believed as going to come; but by what modes and in what order they may come, experience of the things will then teach more than human understanding can now attain to in perfection.

Existimo tamen eo quo a me commemorata sunt ordine esse uentura.

I think, however, that they are going to come in the order in which they have been recounted by me.

Duo nobis ad hoc opus pertinentes reliqui sunt libri, ut adiuuante Domino promissa compleamus; quorum erit unus de malorum supplicio, alius de felicitate iustorum; in quibus maxime, sicut Deus donauerit, argumenta refellentur humana, quae contra praedicta ac promissa diuina sapienter sibi miseri rodere uidentur et salubris fidei nutrimenta uelut falsa et ridenda contemnunt. Qui uero secundum Deum sapiunt, omnium, quae incredibilia uidentur hominibus et tamen scripturis sanctis, quarum iam ueritas multis modis adserta est, continentur, maximum argumentum tenent ueracem Dei omnipotentiam, quem certum habent nullo modo in eis potuisse mentiri et posse facere quod inpossibile est infideli.

Two books pertaining to this work remain to us, that, with the Lord helping, we may complete the promised things; of which one will be on the punishment of the wicked, the other on the felicity of the just; in which especially, as God shall have granted, the human arguments will be refuted, which, against the aforesaid and divine promises, the wretched, seeming wise to themselves, gnaw at, and they contemn the nutriments of salubrious faith as though false and laughable. But those who are wise according to God hold, concerning all the things which seem incredible to men and yet are contained in the holy scriptures, whose truth has already been asserted in many ways, the greatest argument to be the veracious omnipotence of God, whom they hold as certain to have been in no way able to lie in them and to be able to do what is impossible to the unbeliever.