Book Two

[...of the soul] clothed with the vices of wickedness, and not even [f. liquid/weak] that of a brute animal. It means: The soul falling away from the Good, and inclining toward wickedness, and remaining for too long in the same state, unless it repents, is carried away by its own senselessness and, on account of its depravity, behaves like a brute. And a little later: And it chooses, so that it becomes brutish, to live even, if I may say so, an aquatic life, and perhaps for this reason ^A it assumes a watery body, like that of this or that brute animal, and even assumes on account of the greater merit of its fall the body of such a brute animal.] Or, because Balaam’s ass spoke, with God opening its mouth, and answered in human voice, it refutes the madness of the prophet. These things we not only do not accept, but we refute and reject all these assertions of theirs that come against our faith. Nevertheless, in their own place and time, having refuted and repelled this perverse dogma, we shall show how those things which are brought forward by them from the Holy Scriptures ought to be understood.

From the first book "On First Principles," as interpreted by the divine Jerome in his Epistle to Avitus

From the same book "On First Principles," as interpreted by the same divine Jerome in his Epistle to Avitus

BOOK SECOND

77 CHAPTER ONE

it was discussed? But if that which was said logically seems to follow, we may think that the cause of this great diversity of this world is nothing other than the diversity and variety of the motions and lapses of those who fell from that original unity and concord in which they were created by God, and, having been moved and distracted from that state of goodness, and agitated thereafter by diverse motions and desires of their souls, brought down that one and indistinct good of their own nature into various qualities of minds, according to the diversity of their own intention.

2. Moreover, God, by the ineffable art of His wisdom, transforms and repairs all things that happen in any way ^B toward something useful and toward the common progress of all, so that He calls back these very creatures, which had drifted apart by such a great variety of their own minds, into a certain unity of work and purpose, so that, although they are moved by diverse motions of their souls, they nonetheless finish out the fullness and perfection of one world, and the variety of minds itself tends toward the one aim of perfection. For there is one power that binds and contains the entire diversity of the world, and drives its various motions into one work, so that such an immense work of the world might not be dissolved by the dissensions of minds. And for this reason we think that God, the parent of all, for the salvation of all His creatures, through the ineffable reason of His Word and wisdom, has ^C so dispensed these individual things that each and every spirit, or mind—or whatever these rational subsistences are to be called—would not, against the freedom of their own will, be forced by violence into anything other than the motions of their own mind, and that by this the faculty of free will, which certainly would have changed the quality of their nature itself, would not seem to be taken away from them; but that their various motions of purpose were competently and usefully adapted to the harmony of one world, while some stand in need of being helped, others are able to help, and others provide struggles and contests for those who are progressing, in which their industry might be judged more acceptable, and a surer status of their restored rank after victory might be held, which would have been established through the difficulties of those laboring.

3. Since, therefore, it is ordered in diverse ^D offices, yet the status of the whole world is not to be understood as dissonant and discordant with itself; but just as our body is composed of many members and is held together by one soul, so I think that the whole world should be thought of as a certain immense and huge animal, which is held together as if by one soul, [by the power and reason of God. Which I think is also indicated by holy Scripture through that which was said by the prophet: “Do I not fill heaven and earth, says the Lord?” (Jer. xxiii, 24) and again: “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool” (Isa. lxvi, 1), and what the Savior said, when He says not to swear by heaven, because it is the throne of God; nor by earth, because it is His footstool (Matt. v, 34). But also that which Paul said when he was preaching among the Athenians, saying that “in Him we live, and move, and are” (Acts xvii, 28). For how do we live, and move, and are in God, unless because He binds and contains the whole world by His power? But how is heaven the throne of God, and earth His footstool, as the Savior Himself pronounces, unless because His power fills all things both in heaven and on earth, as the Lord also says? How, therefore, God, the parent of all, fills and contains the whole world with the fullness of His power, I do not think anyone could find hard to agree with, based on the things we have shown. Now, indeed, since the sermon of the previous discussion has shown that the diverse motions of rational creatures and their various opinions gave cause for the diversity to this world, we must see whether perhaps just such an end might be suitable for this world as its beginning. For there is no doubt that its end is still to be found in much diversity and variety, which variety, indeed, when detected at the end of this world, will provide the causes and opportunities for the diversities of another world to come after this one.

4. But if this order of argumentation seems consistent, since it appears that the diversity of the world cannot exist without bodies, we must discuss the account of corporeal nature. It is apparent from the things themselves that corporeal nature receives a diverse and varied transformation, so that it can be transformed from all things into all things; just as, for example, I might say, wood is turned into fire, and fire into smoke, and smoke into air. But even the liquid of oil is changed into fire...

Do not the foods themselves, whether of men or of animals, declare the same cause of change? For whatever it is that we have taken as food is turned into the substance of our bodies. But also how water is changed into earth, or into air, and air in turn into fire, or fire into air, or air into water, although it is not difficult to explain, yet in the present place it ^B suffices merely to have mentioned these things for one desiring to discuss the rationale of corporeal matter. We understand matter, therefore, as that which is subject to bodies, that is, that from which bodies subsist when qualities have been added and inserted. We speak of four qualities: hot, cold, dry, moist. These four qualities, ὕλη, that is, inserted into matter—because matter in its own proper definition is found to be outside these qualities that we have mentioned above—produce the diverse species of bodies. Yet this matter, although, as we said above, it is according to its own proper definition without qualities, is nevertheless never found to subsist outside of a quality. This matter, therefore, which is so great and of such a kind that it is able to suffice for all the bodies of the world which God willed to exist, and to serve the Creator in all things for whatever forms and species He might wish, receiving into itself the qualities which He Himself would have wished to impose; I know not how such great and such men have thought it to be unbegotten, that is, not made by God Himself the Creator of all things, but have called its nature and power a certain fortuitous thing. And I wonder how they blame those who deny either God as the Artisan or the providence of this universe, and argue that they think impiously, because they suppose that so great a work of the world consists without an Artisan or Provider; when they themselves also incur a similar charge of impiety, saying that matter is unbegotten and co-eternal with the unbegotten God.

If, therefore, we posit according to this reasoning that there was no matter—as these men assert, saying that God could not make anything when there was nothing—He would undoubtedly have been idle, having no matter from which He might work, which they feel was present to Him not by His own providence, but fortuitously; and it seems to them that this which was found fortuitously could have sufficed for the bulk of so great a work, and for the power of His virtue, which, receiving the rationale of all His wisdom, would be distinguished and formed into the world. Which seems to me completely absurd, and the view of those men who are utterly ignorant of the power and intelligence ^D of an unbegotten nature. But that we might view the order of things more clearly, let it be granted for a little while that there was no matter; and [let us ask] whether God, when there was nothing before, made things to be as He wished; what shall we think? That God was going to create a matter better, or greater, or of a different kind than that which He brought forth from His own virtue and wisdom, so that it might be what had not been before? Or an inferior and worse one? Or one similar and the same as that which those men call unbegotten? And I think it is most easily patent to any man's intellect, that neither a better nor an inferior [matter] could have received the forms and species of the world, unless it had been such as ^A this one is which has received them. And how then will it not seem impious to call that unbegotten, which, if it is believed to have been created by God, is found without doubt to be such as that which is also called unbegotten?

5. But that we may believe that these things are so also by the authority of the Scriptures, hear how in the books of the Maccabees, where the mother of the seven martyrs exhorts one of her sons to endure torments, she is confirmed regarding this dogma; for she says: "I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them, and seeing these, know that God made these all, when they were not." But also in the book of the Shepherd, in the first mandate, it says thus: "First of all, believe that one is God who created and composed all things, and made all things from that which was nothing, so that they might be." Perhaps to this also looks that which is written in the Psalms, that "He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created." For that which he says, that "He spoke, and they were made," seems to show the substance of those things which exist; but what he says: "He commanded, and they were created," seems to be said of the qualities by which the substance itself is formed.

CHAPTER II. On the perpetuity of corporeal nature.

1. In this place some are accustomed to ask whether, just as the Father generates an unbegotten Son, and brings forth the Holy Spirit, not as one who was not before, but because the Father is the origin and fountain of the Son or of the Holy Spirit, and nothing can be understood as earlier or later in these; so also between rational natures and corporeal matter a certain similar society or ^C proximity can be understood. And that they may investigate this matter more fully and intensely, they are accustomed to bend the beginning of the disputation to this, that they might inquire if this very corporeal nature which carries the lives of spiritual and rational minds and contains their motions, [can] with equal...

in its eternity, or will it absolutely perish? In order that this may be examined more searchingly, we must first ask if it is possible for rational natures to remain utterly incorporeal when they have attained the height of holiness and beatitude—a thought that seems to me most difficult and nearly impossible—or if it is necessary for them to be always joined to bodies. If, therefore, anyone could show a reason whereby it were possible for them to be in every way devoid of bodies, it would seem to follow that the corporeal nature, created from nothing through intervals of time, just as it was brought into being when it was not, so too would cease to be when the use of its service had passed.

2. If, however, it is impossible to affirm this in any way, namely that any nature other than the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit can live apart from a body, the necessity of consequence and reason constrains us to understand that rational natures were indeed created as primary; but that material substance is separated from them only in opinion and intellect, and is seen to have been formed for them or after them, yet they have never lived or do live without it; for it will be rightly thought that the life of the Trinity alone exists incorporeally. As we said above, this material substance of the present world, having a nature that is transformed from all things into all things, when it is drawn down to the lower regions, is formed into a coarser and more solid state of body, so that it distinguishes these visible and various species of the world; but when it ministers to more perfect and blessed beings, it shines in the radiance of celestial bodies, and adorns either the angels of God or the sons of the resurrection with the garments of a spiritual body. From all these things, the diverse and varied state of one world is completed. ^B But if one wishes to discuss these things more fully, it will be necessary to examine the divine Scriptures more attentively and diligently with all the fear of God and reverence, to see if by chance some arcane and hidden sense concerning such things can be revealed in them—if anything can be found in the abstruse and hidden discourses (as the Holy Spirit demonstrates to those who are worthy), once many testimonies concerning this very subject have been gathered.

CHAPTER III.

Of the beginning of the world, and its causes.

1. It remains that we inquire whether before this world which now is, another world existed; and if it did, whether it was such as this one which now is, or slightly different, or inferior, or if there was no world at all, but something existed such as we understand that which will be after the end of all things, when the kingdom is delivered to God and the Father: which nevertheless was the end of another world, specifically that after which this world began; but various falls of intellectual natures provoked God to this varied and diverse condition of the world. But I also think it must be similarly inquired whether, after this world, there will be some correction and amendment, sharper indeed and full of pain for those who have refused to obey the word of God; but by instruction and rational training, through which they could progress to a more abundant understanding of the truth, just as those who in the present life gave themselves to these studies, and having been made purer in their minds, have passed on, already capable of divine wisdom from this point; and after this the end of all things will immediately follow, and for the correction and amendment of those who are in need of such things, there will again be another world, either similar to this one which now is, or better, or much worse; and whatever that world after this one will be, how long it will endure; and if there will ever be a time when there is no world at all, or if there was ever a time when a world did not exist; or if there were several, whether they will exist, or if it happens at some time that one world becomes equal and similar to another in all respects and indistinguishable.

[... ] corporeal might subsist through intervals, and just as it did not exist before it was made, it might again be resolved so as not to be; let us first see if it is possible for anyone to live without a body. If, indeed, any one can live without a body, then all things can be. ^{C D}

JEROME'S INTERPRETATION

^A for that which is mortal is, by that very fact, also corruptible; yet it does not follow that if anything is corruptible, it can also be called mortal. For example, we call stone or wood corruptible, but we would not consequently call them mortal. A body, however, because it participates in life—from the fact that life can be separated and is separated from it—is consequently called mortal, and according to another understanding, we also call it corruptible. With a wonderful logic, therefore, the holy Apostle, looking toward the primary general cause of bodily matter—the matter of which the soul always makes use in whatever state it is placed, now indeed in a carnal state, but afterwards in a more subtle and pure one, which is called spiritual—says: "For this corruptible body must put on incorruption." But truly, looking in the second place to the specific cause of the body, he says: "And this mortal body must put on immortality." But what else will incorruption and immortality be, if not the Wisdom, the Word, and the Justice of God, which form, clothe, and adorn the soul? And so it comes to be said that the corruptible shall put on incorruption, and the mortal immortality. For now, even if we make great progress, nevertheless, because we know only in part and prophesy in part, and see through a glass and in a riddle those very things which we seem to understand, this corruptible body has not yet put on incorruption, nor is the mortal surrounded by immortality; and because without doubt this our instruction within the body is protracted into a longer time: namely, until our very bodies, by which we are surrounded, may deserve incorruption and immortality on account of the Word of God and wisdom and perfect justice; therefore it is said: "For this corruptible body must put on incorruption, and this mortal body must put on immortality."

And how shall we understand that which the Apostle said in those places where he disputes about the resurrection of the dead, when he says: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then the saying which is written shall come to pass: Death is swallowed up in victory; O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" The sting of death, however, is sin, and the power of sin is the law. The Apostle seems to suggest a certain meaning of this kind. For what he says—"this corruptible, and this mortal"—with the feeling of one touching and pointing, to whom else does it apply if not to bodily matter? ^B This matter of the body, therefore, which is now corruptible, will put on incorruption when the soul, perfect and instructed in the doctrines of incorruption, begins to make use of it. And do not wonder if we call the perfect soul the garment of the body, which, because of the Word of God and His wisdom, is now called incorruption; since He who is the Lord and Creator of the soul, Jesus Christ, is said to be the garment for the saints, just as the Apostle says: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." As therefore Christ is the garment of the soul, so, by a certain intelligible reasoning, the soul is also said to be the garment of the body. For it is its ornament, veiling and covering its mortal nature. Such, therefore, is what is said: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption," as if he were saying that this corruptible nature of the body must receive the garment of incorruption, having in itself incorruption because it has been clothed with Christ, who is the Wisdom and Word of God. But when this body, which we shall one day possess more gloriously, has participated in life, then it will approach that which is immortal, so that it might even become incorruptible. If anything ^C HIERONYM'S TRANSLATION: But if, as by reason and the authority of the Scriptures it is shown, this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and the mortal shall have put on immortality, and that death is swallowed up in the end, ^D those who think that rational creatures can ever exist outside of bodies can move such objections in this place.

^A. It will seem necessary, therefore, that if the corporeal nature has been exterminated, it must be repaired and created a second time; for it seems possible that the rational natures, from whom the faculty of free choice [(10)] is never taken away, could again be subject to certain movements, the Lord granting this, lest perhaps, if they always maintained an immobile state, they should be ignorant that they were established in that end of blessedness by the grace of God [(11)] and not by their own virtue; which movements, without doubt, the variety of bodies and diversity will follow, by which the world is always adorned, nor can the world ever consist except from variety and diversity; which can be brought about by no means [(12)] outside of corporeal matter.

(6), he declares that nothing other than the material nature is to be exterminated, in which death could work something while, for those who are in the body, the sharpness of the mind is seen to be blunted by the nature of corporeal matter [(7)]. But if they are outside the body, then they will altogether escape the trouble of such perturbation. But since they will not be able to escape every corporeal garment suddenly, they are to be considered as first dwelling in more subtle and purer bodies, which are able neither to be overcome by death nor to be stung by the goad of death; so that thus at length, as the material nature gradually ceases, death may be absorbed and even exterminated in the end, and every goad of it may be blunted thoroughly by divine grace, of which the soul has been made capable, and has deserved to obtain incorruption and immortality [(8)]. And then it will rightly be said by all: Where is, O death, thy victory? Where is, O death, thy sting? The sting of death, however, is sin 31.

If, therefore, these things seem to have a logical consequence, it remains to be believed that our state will sometime be incorporeal; which if it is accepted, and all are said to be about to be subjected to Christ, it is necessary that this also be deferred to all, to whom the subjection of Christ reaches; because all who are subjected to Christ will in the end also be subjected to God the Father, to whom Christ is said to be about to deliver the kingdom, and thus it appears that then even the use of bodies will cease ^B. But if it ceases, it returns to nothingness just as it was not before. But let us see what may occur to those who, in this way [HIERON. INTERP.] if these things are not contrary to the faith [(9)], perhaps we shall live at some time without bodies. But if he who is perfectly subjected to Christ is understood without a body; and all are to be subjected to Christ; then we shall be without bodies when we have been perfectly subjected to Him. If all have been subjected to God, all are to lay aside their bodies, and then the whole nature of corporeal things will be dissolved into nothingness. Which, if necessity should require it a second time, will exist again on account of the fall of rational creatures ^C. For God indeed left the conflict and struggle to souls, so that they might understand that they have obtained the full and finished victory not by their own strength but by the grace of God. And for this reason I judge that, because of the variety of causes, different worlds are made, and the errors of those who contend that worlds similar to their own exist are refuted ^D.

4. But indeed [(15)] those who confirm that worlds dissimilar to one another will someday occur in all respects, I know not by what documents they can assert this. For if the world is said to be similar in all things, it will come about that again Adam or Eve will do the same things which they did; there will again be the same flood, and the same Moses will again lead a people numbering nearly six hundred thousand out of Egypt: Judas also will betray the Lord twice; Paul will again keep the garments of those stoning Stephen; and all things that have been done in this life will be said to be destined to be done again [(15)]; which I do not think can be supported by any reason, if souls are moved by the liberty of their own will, and sustain their own progress or decline by the power of their own volition. For souls are not driven in some course, revolving themselves into the same circles after many ages [(16)], so that they do or desire this or that, but wherever the liberty of their own ingenuity 82 has inclined, thither they direct [(17)] the course of their actions. For such is what is said by them, as if one should wish to assert that if a measure of grain is poured onto the ground, it is possible that the same and entirely identical accidents should happen to the grains a second time, so that each grain should lie a second time in the place where it was first cast, and in the same order, and dispersed by the same

signs by which it had been spread at first; and this, surely, is impossible to occur with the countless grains of a measure, even if they were poured out ceaselessly and continually for vast ages. Therefore, it seems impossible to me that the world 19 could be restored a second time in the same order and by the same methods; nevertheless, it is possible that different worlds exist through not insignificant changes, such that for certain manifest causes one world may have a better state, another a worse, and another a state that is intermediate. But what this number or method may be, I confess I do not know. If anyone could show it, I would gladly learn.

^B 5. Yet the end of many ages is said to be this world, which is itself also called an age. The holy Apostle 20 teaches that Christ did not suffer in the age that was before this one, nor even in the one that was before that; and I do not know if I could even enumerate how many prior ages there were in which He did not suffer. I shall bring forward the passage of Paul from which I came upon the occasion of this understanding; for he says 21: "But now once, in the consummation of the ages, He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." For he says that the sacrifice was made once, and that in the consummation of the ages He was manifested to put away sin. But that after this world, which is said to have been made for the consummation of other ages, there will be other ages supervening, we have learned ^C clearly from Paul himself, who says: "That He might show in the supervening ages the superabundant riches of His grace in goodness toward us." He did not say "in the supervening age," nor "in the two supervening ages"; whence I think that many ages are signified by the indication of that statement. If, indeed, there is something greater than the ages, so too in the creatures may certain ages 22 be understood, while in others there may be those that exceed and transcend visible creatures (which will perhaps be in the restitution of all things, when [they] shall reach the perfect end ^D of the ages, which perhaps is something more than the age in which will be the consummation of all things). I am moved, however, 23 in this matter by the authority of Holy Scripture which says: "Into the age, and beyond." For that "beyond" also, which it says, undoubtedly wishes us to understand something more than the age, and see whether that which the Savior says, "I wish that where I am, they also may be with Me; and as I and You are one, so also they may be one in Us 24," may seem to show something more than an age and ages, perhaps even more than the ages of ages, namely, when all things are no longer in an age, but God is in all things 24.

6. Since the reasons of the world have been discussed according to our capacity, ^B it does not seem incongruous to also inquire what the very appellation "world" signifies; which appellation is frequently shown in the Holy Scriptures to signify various things. For that which we call "world" in Latin is called *kosmos* in Greek; and *kosmos* signifies not only "world," but also "ornament." Finally, in Isaiah, where the word of rebuke is directed to the princes of the daughters of Zion, it says: "For the ornament of the golden head you shall have baldness because of your works," an ornament there by that name by which he called the world, that is, *kosmos* 25. It is said also that the pattern of the world is contained in the pontifical vestment, as we find in the Wisdom of Solomon when it says, because "in the vestment of the long robe was the whole world." Our world with its inhabitants, the terrestrial globe, is also called "world," just as when Scripture says: "The whole world is seated in wickedness 27." Certainly, Clement, the disciple of the apostles, also makes mention of those whom the Greeks have termed *antichthonas* and other parts 26 of the terrestrial globe to which neither can anyone of our people have access, nor can anyone from those who are there cross over to us—whom he also called worlds when he said: "The Ocean is impassable to men 27, and the worlds that are beyond it, which are governed by these same dispositions of the Lord God."

beyond it, the same providence of the highest God signifying also that they are set in motion and governed. He seems to scatter some seeds of such an understanding for us, whereby the entire aggregate of things that are and exist—celestial, super-celestial, terrestrial, and infernal—is thought to be generally called one perfect world, within which or by which the others (if there be any) are to be thought to be contained. Hence, he indeed wished the sphere of the moon or of the sun, and of the others whom they call planets, to be named worlds individually. But they also wish that supereminent sphere which they call the fixed ^C sphere to be properly called a world nonetheless. Finally, they even cite the book of the prophet Baruch as testimony to this assertion, because therein a sevenfold number of worlds or heavens is indicated more evidently. They wish, however, that above that sphere which they call fixed [ἀπλανῆ], there is another, which, just as with us the heaven contains all things that are under heaven, so they say that it contains with an immense magnitude of its own and an ineffable complex of the circumference of all the spheres in a more magnificent way; so that all things are within it just as this earth of ours is under heaven: which also is believed in the Holy Scriptures to be called the good earth and the land of the living, having its own heaven—that higher one, in which heaven the names of the saints are said to be written or to have been written ^D by the Savior; by which heaven that earth is contained and enclosed, which the Savior in the Gospel promises to the meek and gentle. For indeed from the name of that earth, they wish this one of ours, which formerly had the name "dry land," also to be named, just as this firmament [of ours] is called by the name of that heaven.

But we have discussed these opinions more fully in that place where we were inquiring what it was that God created in the beginning (heaven and earth). For another heaven and another earth are indicated than that firmament which is said to have been made after two days, or the dry land which is afterwards called earth. Indeed, what some say concerning this world—that it is corruptible from the fact that it was made, and yet it is not corrupted, because the will of God who made it and holds it together, lest corruption should master it, is stronger and more powerful than corruption—can more rightly be understood of that world which we have called the sphere [ἀπλανή] above, because by the will of God it is in no way subject to corruption, for the fact that it has not received the causes of corruption. For that world belongs to the saints and to those who are purified to clearness, and not to the impious as this one of ours does.

However, we must see whether perhaps, looking to this, the Apostle said: "For us who look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." We know, moreover, that if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have an edifice from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For when he says elsewhere: "For I shall see the heavens, the works of thy fingers," and God said through the prophet concerning all invisible things: "For my hand has made all these things," he declares that this eternal house which he promises to the saints in the heavens is not made by hands, showing without doubt the distinction between the creatures that are in the things which are seen and those that are in the things which are not seen. For that which he calls "the things which are not seen" is not understood ^B as the same thing as that which he declares is not made by hands.

things that are invisible. For those things which are invisible are not only not seen, but do not even have the nature to be seen, which the Greeks called *asōmata*, that is, incorporeal; however, these things, concerning which Paul spoke: "The things which are not seen" 66, indeed have the nature to be seen, yet they are not yet seen by those to whom they are promised, as he explains.

7. From these three opinions regarding the end of all things and the supreme blessedness, sketched out as we were able, let each reader judge for himself more carefully and scrupulously, if any of them can be approved or chosen. 84 For it has been said that an incorporeal life could be envisioned, after all things have been subjected to Christ and through Christ to God the Father, when God will be all in all 40; or, since notwithstanding this, all things have been subjected to Christ and through Christ to God, with whom also is one spirit, according to the fact that spirits are rational natures, they become 41; then the corporeal substance itself also, joined to the best and purest spirits, will be transmuted into an ethereal state according to the quality or merits of those who assume it 42, according to what the Apostle says: "And we shall be changed" 67, and it will shine forth. Or certainly, that with the form of those things which are seen passing away, having been shaken off and purged of all corruptibility, and with this whole state of the world in which the spheres of the planets are said to be, having been surpassed and overcome, above that which is called *aplanēs* 43, the station of the pious and blessed ^A is placed, as if in a good land, and the earth of the living, which the meek and mild will inherit 45; whose is that heaven which with a more magnificent circuit surrounds and contains that earth itself; which is truly and chiefly called heaven, in which heaven or earth the end of all things and their perfection can remain in a safe and most faithful station, to the effect that those who, after the correction and punishment which they had borne for their sins, with the excuse of purification, all things having been completed and paid, merit the dwelling of that earth; but those who have been obedient to the Word of God and have already from that time shown themselves capable and compliant to His wisdom, they are said to merit the kingdom of that heaven or heavens; and thus may that be more worthily fulfilled which was said: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" 68; and: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" 68; and what he says in the Psalm: "He shall exalt thee, and thou shalt inherit the earth" 69 46. For it is said that one descends to this earth, but that one is exalted to that which is on high ^B. In this way, therefore, it seems as though a certain journey is opened for the progress of the saints from that earth to those heavens, so that they may not seem so much to remain in that earth as to dwell there, being destined to pass on, when they shall have progressed to that point also 47, to the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven.

CAPUT IV.

That there is one God of the Law and the Prophets, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Since these things have been briefly set forth in order, it follows, according to what we proposed from the beginning, to refute also those who think that there is another God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, besides Him who gave the responses of the Law to Moses, or sent the prophets, who is the God of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For it is necessary that we first be confirmed in this reasoning of faith. Therefore, one must consider what is frequently said in the Gospels, and is added to each of the deeds of our Lord and Savior: "That it might be fulfilled which was said by such and such a prophet," when it is manifest that those prophets belong to the God who made the world. From this sequence, therefore, it is concluded that He who sent the prophets, He Himself foretold things that were to be preached regarding Christ. And there is no doubt that these things were foretold not by anyone alien to Him, but by His own Father. But also, that examples from the Old Testament ^C are frequently brought forward by the Savior, or by His apostles, not otherwise— ^D

^A than by the authority of the ancients, is indicated to anyone of even slight intelligence, suggesting the meaning that He does not propose to His disciples another God to be imitated than the Creator of heaven and provider of rain. But when He says that those who pray ought to say, "Our Father who art in heaven," what else does this seem to indicate than that God is to be sought in the better parts of the world, that is, in His own creation? And again, when, defining certain excellent institutions regarding oaths, He says that one ought not ^B to swear, neither by heaven, because it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, because it is the footstool of His feet, does this not most clearly seem to harmonize with the prophetic words where it is said: "Heaven is my throne, and earth the footstool of my feet"? But also, when He drives from the temple those who were selling sheep and oxen and doves, pouring out the tables of the money-changers, and saying, "Take these things hence, and do not make the house of my Father a house of merchandise," He was without doubt calling Him Father whose name Solomon had built a magnificent temple. And that remark which He makes, "Have you not read what was said by God to Moses: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; but God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," most clearly teaches us that He was calling the God of the patriarchs the God of the living—inasmuch as they were holy and alive—He who had spoken in the prophets, "I am God, and there is no God besides me." For the Savior knew that the God of Abraham is He who is written of in the Law, and that He is the one who says, "I am God, and there is no God besides me"; indeed, He acknowledges Him to be the Father who is ignorant of any God above Himself, as the heretics suppose. Absurdly, then, do they call Him Father who is ignorant of a more eminent God. If, however, He is not ignorant, but deceives, saying there is no God besides Himself, it is much more absurd to acknowledge one's Father as a liar. From all these considerations, the mind is led to the conclusion that He knows no other Father than God, the framer and creator of all things.

2. It would be a long undertaking ^B if we were to gather testimonies from all the parts of the Gospels by which the same God of the Law and of the Gospels is shown to be one. Nevertheless, we shall briefly touch upon the Acts of the Apostles, where Stephen and the apostles direct their prayers to that God who made heaven and earth, and who spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets; calling Him the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God who led His people out of the land of Egypt. These sentiments, without doubt, most clearly direct our understanding toward faith in the Creator and implant love for Him in those ^C who have learned these truths piously and faithfully; just as the Savior Himself, when asked what was the greatest commandment of all in the Law, replied, saying: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." And the second is like to this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And to these He added, "because on these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets." How then could He, whom He was instructing and leading into discipleship, commend this commandment before all others—through which, without doubt, the love of the God of the Law was reconciled—since these very words had been preached by the Law? But let it be conceded, against all these most evident proofs, that the Savior is speaking of some other God I know not whom, when He says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart," and the rest of what is said. How then, if the Law and the prophets are of the Creator and—as they say—of another God besides Him whom He calls good, will what He added appear consistent, namely that the Law and the prophets hang upon these two commandments? For how can that which is alien and foreign to God hang upon God? But Paul, saying: "I thank my God, to whom I serve in my spirit from my forefathers in a pure conscience," clearly shows that he came not to some new God, but to Christ. For what other forefathers of Paul could it be appropriate to understand than those of whom he himself says: "They are Hebrews, and I; they are Israelites, and I"? But also, does not the preface itself of his Epistle to the Romans—to those who know how to understand Paul’s writings—diligently show which God Paul preaches? For he says: "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Gospel ^D of God, which he had promised before by his prophets."

In the holy Scriptures concerning his Son, who was made to him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestined the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead of Christ Jesus our Lord, etc. But also that which he says: “You shall not muzzle the ox that is treading out the corn; is it for the oxen that God cares? Or does he say it altogether for our sakes? For it was written for our sakes, that he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope of partaking of the fruit.” In which he shows evidently that God, who gave the Law, speaks for our sakes, that is, for the ^A sake of the apostles; whose care was not for oxen, but for the apostles who were preaching the Gospel of Christ. In other places also, Paul himself, embracing the promise of the Law, speaks thus: “Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you, and you may live long upon the earth, the good land which the Lord your God will give you.” Through which, without doubt, he declares that the Law and the God of the Law and his promises are pleasing to him.

5. But since those who assert this heresy are wont at times to deceive the hearts of the simple with certain deceptive sophisms, I do not think it absurd if we also refute those things which they are wont to bring forward in their assertions, proposing their subreptions and lies. They say, therefore: "It is written: 'No man has seen God at any time'; but that God whom Moses preaches, and who was seen by Moses himself, and before him by his fathers; and he who is announced by the Savior, has never been seen at all." Let us ask them, therefore, and ourselves: concerning this one whom they confess as God, and say is a different one from the Creator God, do they say he is visible or invisible? And if indeed they say that he is visible, besides the fact that they are argued to come against the sense of Scripture, which says of the Savior that "he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature," they will also fall into that absurdity, that they must say God is corporeal. For nothing can be seen otherwise than through form, and ^B magnitude, and color, which are properties of bodies. And if God is pronounced to be a body, since every body is from matter, God will be found to be from matter; which, if it be from matter, but matter is without doubt corruptible, then according to them God will be corruptible. Again, also, we shall ask them: was matter made, or is it unbegotten, that is, unmade? And if indeed they shall say that it is unmade, that is, unbegotten, we shall ask them if one part of matter is God, and another part is the world. If, however, they answer concerning matter that it is made, without doubt it will follow that they must confess that he whom they call God is made; which certainly neither their own reasoning nor ours admits. But they will say: "God is invisible." And what will you do? It remains that God is invisible; but if he is invisible by nature, he will not be visible to the Savior either. If you say that he is invisible by nature, he ought not to be visible to the Savior. Nay, even God the Father of Christ is said to be seen, since “he who sees me,” he says, “sees also the Father.” Which certainly presses you vehemently, but by us it is more correctly understood not as seeing, but as understanding. For he who has understood the Son will understand the Father also. In this way, therefore, ^C Moses is also to be thought to have seen God, not beholding him with carnal eyes, but understanding him with the vision of the heart and the sense of the mind, and this in some part. For it is manifest that he says, "You shall not see my face" (to wit, he who was providing answers to Moses), "but my back parts." Which things, indeed, are to be understood with him in a sacrament, by which it is fitting that divine sayings be understood, with those old wives' fables cast away and spurned, which are fashioned by the ignorant and those who came later concerning the prior things of God. Nor, indeed, let anyone think that we hold any impious thing because we have said that God the Father is not visible even to the Savior: let him consider with what distinction we act against the heretics. For we have said that it is one thing to see and be seen, and another to know and be known, or to recognize and be recognized. Therefore, to see and be seen is a matter of bodies; which certainly will not fitably be adapted to the Father, nor to the Son, nor to the Holy Spirit among themselves. For the nature of the Trinity exceeds the mode of vision, indulging mutual vision among themselves to those things which are in a body, that is, to all other creatures; but to an incorporeal and ^D principal-intellectual nature, nothing else is fitting except to know or be known, just as the Savior himself.

by proclaiming, saying, "No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son is willing to reveal him." ^A It is manifest, therefore, that he did not say, "No one has seen the Father except the Son," but "No one knows the Father except the Son."

4. But if, on account of those things said in the Old Testament, where God is described as being angry or repenting, or any other such passion of human affection, they think that grounds are provided for them to refute us, affirming that God is entirely impassible and must be understood as lacking all these affections; it must be pointed out to them that similar things are found even in the evangelical parables, when it says that the one who planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants, who killed the servants sent to him, and in the end killed even the son who was sent to him—he is said to be angry, to have taken away the vineyard from them, to have miserably destroyed those wicked tenants, and to have handed the vineyard over to other tenants who would give him the fruit in its season. Or again, as for those citizens who did not want the householder to receive the kingdom over them, and sent messengers after him saying, "We do not want him to reign over us," the householder, having obtained the kingdom, returned and in his anger commands them to be killed before him, and burns their city with fire. But we, whether in the Old Testament or in the New, when we read of the anger of God, do not understand what is said according to the letter, but seek the spiritual sense in such matters, so that we may think in a way that is worthy of the understanding of God. Concerning these, according to the limitation of our understanding, when we were expounding that verse in the second Psalm in which he says, C]] "Then he will speak to them in his anger, and in his fury he will disturb them," we showed, to the best of our ability, how this ought to be understood.

CHAPTER V. Of the Just and the Good.

1. Indeed, because the leaders of this heresy seem to have made for themselves a certain division, by which they said that the just is one thing and the good is another, and have even used this division within the divinity itself, affirming that the good God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and is not just, but that the God of the Law and the Prophets is just, yet not good—I think it is necessary to respond to this question as briefly as I can. They believe, therefore, that goodness is a kind of affection such that a benefit must be done to all, even if the one to whom the benefit is given is unworthy and does not deserve to receive a benefit; but, as it seems to me, they have not properly used that definition, thinking that something harsh or sad is brought to the one.

But they have thought that justice is such an affection that it rewards each according to his deserts. But here, too, they do not interpret the sense of their definition correctly. For they think that what is just does evil to the wicked and good to the good—that is, that according to their sense, the just does not seem to wish well to the wicked, but is, as it were, carried by a kind of hatred against them; and they collect instances wherever they may chance to find in the Scriptures of the Old Testament a history reporting such things, for example, concerning the punishments of the flood, and those who are reported to have perished in it, or when Sodom and Gomorrah are laid waste by the destruction of fire and brimstone rains, or when in the desert all fall on account of their sins, so that no one of those who had set out from Egypt is found to enter the promised land, except Joshua and Caleb. From the New Testament, moreover, they gather words of mercy and piety by which the disciples are instructed by the Savior, and by which it seems to be announced that no one is good except one, God the Father; and through this, they have dared to name the Father of the Savior Jesus Christ as good, but they say that the God of the world is another, whom it pleased them to call just, not also good.

2. From these, one must first demand that, if they can show according to their definition that the Creator is just, punishing according to merit those who perished at the time of the flood, or the Sodomites, or those who had set out from Egypt, since we see sometimes much worse and more wicked crimes being committed than those for which those who were destroyed, as we said above, were punished, yet we do not see everyone currently guilty paying the price of their deserts—will they say that he is a good effect who was once just? Or will they rather think that the one who is just is indeed so now, but patiently bears human offenses, while at that time he was not even just, he who extinguished innocent infants and nursing children along with the monstrous and impious giants? But they think these things because they know not how to hear anything beyond the letter; otherwise, let them show how it is just, according to the letter, that the sins of parents be rendered into the bosom of children and of the children of their children after them unto the third and fourth generation. But as for us, such things are not understood according to the letter, but as Ezekiel taught by the parable, saying, we seek what the parable itself signifies within. But they must also show how he is just, and—

^A rendering to each according to their merits, who punishes the earth-born and the devil, although they have committed nothing worthy of punishment. For they could not—if according to these men they were of an evil and lost nature—do anything good. For even the fact that they call him a judge seems to be a judge not so much of deeds as of natures; indeed, if a bad nature cannot do good, neither can a good one do evil. Then afterwards, if the one whom they call good is good to all, he is without doubt good even to those who are about to perish; and how does he not save them? If he does not want to, then he will not be good; if he wants to but cannot, he will not be omnipotent. Rather, let them listen in the Gospels to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ preparing fire for the devil and his angels. And how will that work, as painful as it is sad, be seen according to the sense of these men as the work of a good God? But even the Savior himself, the Son of the good God, protests in the Gospels and says: "For if the signs and wonders had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes." And when he had approached the cities themselves, and had entered their borders, why, I ask, did he decline to enter those cities and provide them with an abundance of signs and wonders, if it was certain that given those deeds they would have done penance in sackcloth and ashes? Which surely, as he does not do it, he leaves them without doubt for perdition, though the very discourse of the Gospel indicates that they were not of an evil and lost nature by designating that they could have repented. ^C But even in a certain parable of the Gospel, the king entering to see the guests who had been invited, saw someone not clothed in wedding garments, and said to him: "Friend, how did you enter here not having a wedding garment?" Then he said to the servants: "Binding his hands and feet, cast him out into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Let them tell us who is this king who entered to see the guests, and finding among them someone in sordid garments, orders him to be bound by his servants and dragged into outer darkness. Is he, perhaps, the one whom they call just? And how had he ordered good and bad to be invited, and had not ordered their merits to be inquired into by the servants? By which, surely, not the affection of some just one, as they say, who compensates according to merits, is indicated, but one of indiscriminate kindness toward all. ^D If, however, it is necessary that this be understood of the good God, that is, either of Christ or of the Father of Christ, what else is it that is thrown up against the just judgment of God ^B or rather, what is such that it is charged as a crime against God in the law ^C—which is to order him who had been invited from among those servants whom he had sent to call both the good and the bad, to be cast into outer darkness bound hand and foot because of more sordid garments?

§ 3. And these things, which we have assumed by the authority of the Scriptures, ought to be sufficient to refute those things which heretics are accustomed to object. Yet it will not seem indecorous if we also deal with them in a few words from the reason of the consequence itself. We ask them, therefore, if they know what reason is held among men regarding virtue and malice, and if it seems consistent that we should speak of virtues in God, or, as it seems to them, in these two gods. Let them answer this too: if it seems to them that goodness is some kind of virtue, which I think they will without doubt admit, what will they also say about justice? Never, indeed, as it seems to me, will they be so foolish as to deny that justice is a virtue. Therefore, if the good is a virtue and justice is a virtue, then without doubt justice is goodness. If, however, they say that justice is not good, it remains that it is either evil or indifferent. And indeed, I think it foolish to answer those who say that justice is evil. For I would seem to be answering either insane discourses or people who are out of their minds. For how will that which can render to the good what is good—as even they themselves admit—be seen as evil? If, however, they say it is indifferent, it follows that since justice is indifferent, temperance and prudence and all the remaining virtues are also held to be indifferent. And what shall we answer to Paul, who says: "If there is any virtue, if there is any praise, think on these things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me"? Let them therefore learn, by searching the divine Scriptures, what the individual virtues are, and let them not slip into this, which they say: that the God who renders to each according to their merit renders evil to the evil out of hatred of the wicked, and not on account of the fact that those who have sinned need to be cured by more austere medicines, and for that reason he applies to them those things which, with a view to amendment, seem for the present to bring some pain. They do not read what is written about the hope of those who perished in the flood, of which hope Peter himself in his first Epistle says thus: "Because Christ also died once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; being put to death indeed in the flesh, but brought to life by the spirit: in which also he went and preached to those spirits who were in prison, who had been unbelieving at one time, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noah, when the ark was being built, in which a few,

^A that is, eight souls, were saved through water. As you too, with a similar form, are now saved by baptism. But if they believe that the prophetic voices—that is, those concerning the rain of fire and sulfur that is said to have been poured upon them—are those of the Creator God, let them say to us what the prophet Ezekiel says about them: "Sodom will be restored," he says, "to its former state." And what is it that scourges those who are worthy of punishment, if it does not scourge them for some good? He who also says to Chaldaea: "You have coals of fire, sit upon them; they will be a help to you." But let those who fell in the desert hear what is reported in the ^B 77th Psalm, which is inscribed to Asaph; for it says: "When He slew them, then they sought Him." He does not say that when some were killed, others sought Him, but he says that the destruction of those who were being killed was such that, being put to death, they sought God. From all these things it is clear that the God of the Law and of the Gospels is one and the same, both just and good, and that He does good with justice and punishes with goodness; for the divine power can manifest its dignity neither as good without being just, nor as just without being good. We will add this further point, since their cunning compels us: If "just" is something other than "good," since evil is the contrary of good and unjust is the contrary of just, then without doubt "unjust" will be something other than "evil." And just as, according to you, ^C the just man is not good, so neither will the unjust man be evil; and again, just as the good man is not just, so the evil man will not be unjust. But to whom does it not seem absurd that, while evil is the contrary to the good God, yet to God, who is just—whom they say is inferior to the good one—no one is contrary? For there is not, as there is the one who is called evil, namely Satan, another who is called unjust. What then? Let us cut away what we defend. For they will not be able to say that an evil man is not also unjust, and that an unjust man is not evil. But if in these contraries injustice adheres inseparably to evil, or evil to injustice, without doubt the good will also necessarily ^D adhere to the just, and the just to the good; so that just as we call the wickedness of evil and of injustice one and the same, so we speak of the virtue of goodness and of justice as one and the same.

4. But they recall us again to the Scriptures, bringing forward that very famous question of theirs. For they say: "It is written that an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruits; for the tree is known by its fruit." What then, do they say? That the tree indicates what the Law is, by its fruits—that is, by the words of its commandments. For if the Law is found to be good, without doubt the God who gave it is believed to be a good God. If, however, it is just rather than good, the legislator ^A will be thought to be a just God. The Apostle Paul, using no circumlocution, says: "The Law is therefore good, and the commandment is holy and just and good." From these things it is manifest that Paul had not learned from those who separate the just from the good, but had been instructed by that God, and had been illuminated by the Spirit of that God, who is at once holy, and good, and just; through whose Spirit he was speaking when he said that the commandment of the Law is holy and just and good. And in order to show more evidently that goodness, more than justice and holiness, is present in the commandment, he repeated the phrase, bringing forward only goodness for these three, saying: "What then, is the good ^B death to me? God forbid." For, knowing that goodness is the genus of virtues, while justice or holiness are species of that genus, he, when he had mentioned the genus along with the species in the preceding words, turned his speech back to the genus alone. But in what follows: "Sin," he says, "wrought death in me through the good." In which he concludes by the genus what he had explained above by the species. For in this way we must also understand what was said: " A good man brings forth good from the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings forth evil." For here, too, he has taken the genus in the ^C good or evil, showing without doubt that in the good man there is both justice, and temperance, and prudence, and piety, and everything that can be called or thought good. Similarly, he also spoke of the evil man, who would without doubt be unjust, and impure, and impious, and all things which in their parts deform an evil man. For just as no one thinks any man evil without these wickednesses, nor can he be, so too without those virtues it is certain that no one will be thought to be good. It still remains for them, furthermore, to bring forward that which they think of as a shield given to them, namely what the Lord said in the Gospel: "No one is good except one, God the Father," saying that this is the proper title ^D of the Father of Christ, who is nevertheless different from the Creator God of all things, to which Creator he gave no title of goodness. Let us see, therefore, if in the Old Testament the God of the prophets and the Creator of the world and the Lawgiver is not called good. And what is this which is said in the Psalms: "How good is the God of Israel to the upright of heart"? And: "Let Israel now say that He is good, that His mercy is forever." And in the Lamentations of Jeremiah it is written: "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him." Just as, therefore, God is frequently called good in the Old Testament, so also He is called just in the Gospels of the Lord.

the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, in the Gospel according to John, our Lord Himself, praying to the Father, says: "Righteous Father, and the world has not known Thee" (John xvii, 25). Lest they perchance say that He called the Father the creator of the world on account of the assumption of flesh, and named Him "righteous" as such, they are excluded from that line of reasoning by what immediately follows; for He says: "And the world has not known Thee." For according to them, the world is ignorant only of the good God. But it recognizes its creator most truly, according to the Lord Himself, as the world loves what is its own. Openly, therefore, He whom they consider the good God is called righteous in the Gospels. It will certainly be possible, by taking some leisure, to gather more testimonies, wherever in the New Testament the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is called righteous, and even in the Old Testament the creator of heaven and earth is called good, so that, being convicted by many testimonies, the heretics may perhaps one day blush.

CHAPTER VI.

On the Incarnation of Christ.

1. ^B It is time for us to return to the course of the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior, and to how or why He was made man. Therefore, after considering, to the extent of our very meager powers—more from the contemplation of His works than from our own sense—the divine nature, and notwithstanding our contemplation of His visible creatures through faith as well as the invisible ones—since human frailty cannot see all things with the eyes nor comprehend them with the reason, for we humans are the weakest and most fragile animal of all rational beings; for those things which are held in heaven or above the heavens are more excellent—it remains that we should seek the medium, that is, the mediator between all these creatures and God, whom the Apostle Paul declares to be the firstborn of all creation. ^C Seeing also the things which are recorded of His majesty in the Holy Scriptures, and observing that He is called "the image of the invisible God, and the firstborn of all creation" (Coloss. i, 15), and that "in Him all things were created, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through Him and in Him; and He is before all, and all things consist in Him" (Coloss. i, 16-17), who is the head of all, having as His only head God the Father; for it is written: "The head of Christ is God" (I Cor. xi, 3); perceiving also what is written, that "no one knows the Father except the Son, nor does anyone know the Son except the Father" (Matt. xi, 27); (for who can know what wisdom is, except He who begat it? Or who knows clearly what truth is, except the Father of truth? Who certainly ^D was able to investigate the nature of His Word, and of God Himself which is from God, unless God alone with whom the Word was?) we must hold for certain that this Word, or reason as it should be called, this wisdom, this truth, no other than God alone to whom I believe the books that would be written could not even contain the world (John xxi, 25), concerning, of course, the glory and majesty of the Son of God. For it is impossible to put into writing those things which pertain to the glory of the Savior. Having therefore considered such great and such things concerning the nature of the Son of God, we are struck with the highest admiration that such a nature, excelling all things, emptying itself from the state of its own majesty, was made man, and conversed among men, as the grace poured out upon His lips testifies, and as the Father bears witness to Him from heaven, and as 90 it is confirmed by the signs and wonders and various virtues wrought by Him. And He, even before His presence which He showed in the flesh, sent His prophets as forerunners and messengers of His advent; but after His ascension into heaven, He filled the holy apostles with the power of His divinity, and made them, men who were unlearned and ignorant, whether from among publicans or fishermen, travel throughout the world, that they might gather from every race and from all peoples a people of the pious who believe in Him.

2. But among all His miracles and magnificences, this one deeply exceeds human admiration, and the frailty of mortal intelligence does not find how it can sense or understand that that supreme power of divine majesty, that very Word of the Father, and the very wisdom of God in which all visible and invisible things were created, should be believed to have been within the circumscription of that man who appeared in Judea; but also that the wisdom of God entered the womb of a woman, and was born an infant, and emitted a cry in the likeness of weeping infants; then afterwards that He is reported to be troubled in death, as He Himself also confesses, saying: "My soul is sorrowful unto death" (Matt. xxvi, 38); and at last that He was brought down to the death which is considered most ignominious among men, although He rose again after the third day. Since, therefore, we see in Him some things so human that they seem to differ in nothing from the common frailty of mortals, and some things so divine that they befit none other than that primary and ineffable nature of the Godhead, the narrowness of the human intellect is beset, and, struck by the stupor of such admiration, does not know whither it may turn, what it may hold, or to what it may betake itself. If it perceives God, it sees a mortal; if it perceives man...

it sees Him returning from the dead with the spoils of the conquered empire of death. Wherefore, it is to be contemplated with all fear and reverence, so that in one and the same Person the truth of both natures may be demonstrated, in such a way that neither anything unworthy or indecent be felt concerning that divine and ineffable substance, nor, on the other hand, that what has been done be thought to have been an illusion of false images. To bring these things to human ears and to explain them in speech exceeds the powers of our merit, or of our intellect and discourse. I think, indeed, that it exceeds even the measure of the holy apostles; nay, it is perhaps even higher than the explanation of this mystery by the whole creation of celestial powers. Concerning this we shall speak, not out of any rashness, but because the order of the place ^A demands it, stating those things which our faith contains rather than what the assertion of human reason is accustomed to vindicate, and offering our conjectures rather than any manifest affirmations.

3. Therefore, the discourse of our disputation has taught in the preceding books that only the Firstborn of God, through whom all things were made, according to the opinion of Scripture, both made all things and loves what He has made. For since He Himself is the invisible image of the invisible God, He has invisibly provided participation in Himself to all rational creatures, so that each one might receive as much of this participation as they had clung to Him with an affect of love. But because, through the faculty of free will ^B, there was a variety and diversity of souls in each one, such that one was held by a more ardent, another by a thinner and more meager love towards their Creator, that soul of which Jesus said, "No one shall take my soul from me" [John x, 18]; from the beginning of its creation and thenceforth, inseparably and indissolubly clinging to Him, as being the Wisdom and Word of God and the truth and the true light, and as a whole, it received the Whole, and being itself transformed into His light and splendor, it was made with Him, in a primary way, one spirit, just as the Apostle promises to those who ought to imitate Him, saying, "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" [1 Cor. vi, 17]. This substance of the soul, therefore, being a mediator between God and flesh (for it was not possible for the nature of God to be mixed with a body without a mediator) is born, as we have said, God-man, that intermediate substance existing, for which, indeed, it was not contrary to nature to assume a body. But neither, on the other hand, did that soul, as a rational substance, have it contrary to nature to receive God, into whom, as we have said above, as if into the Word and Wisdom and the Truth, the whole ^C already ceased to reside in the Godhead, the narrowness of the human intellect, struck by the stupor of such admiration, knows not whither to decline or whither to turn itself.

Hence it is also deservedly held that, for His sake, either because the whole soul was in the Son of God, or because it received the whole Son of God into itself, even it, together with the flesh which it had assumed, is called the Son of God and the Power of God, Christ and the Wisdom of God; and again, the Son of God, through whom all things were created, is called Jesus Christ and the Son of Man. For it is said that the Son of God died, for that nature, namely, which could indeed receive death; and He is called the Son of Man, who is announced as about to come in the glory of God the Father with the holy angels. And for this reason, throughout all Scripture, the divine nature is called by human names, just as the human nature is adorned with the insignia of divine naming. For more can be said of this than of any other thing, which is written: "Because the two shall be in one flesh, and now they are not two, but one flesh" [Gen. ii, 24; Marc. x, 8]. For it is to be believed that the Word of God is more in one flesh with the soul than a husband with a wife. But also, who is more fitting to be described as one spirit with God than this soul which has so joined itself to God through love that it is deservedly called one spirit with Him?

Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἄνθρωπος γέγονε Χριστὸς, ἐξ ἀνδραγαθήματος τούτου τυχών, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ ὁ Προφήτης λέγων· «Ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ Θεός σου ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου.» Ἔπρεπε δὲ τὸν μηδέποτε κεχωρισμένον τοῦ μονογενοῦς συγχρηματίσαι τῷ μονογενεῖ καὶ συνδοξασθῆναι αὐτῷ That is: Therefore, Christ also became man, having obtained this through his own merit, as the Prophet testifies saying: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" [Psal. xliv, 8]. It was fitting, however, that he who was never separated from the Only-Begotten should be named with the Only-Begotten and be glorified with Him.

It was the perfection of love, and the sincerity of his affect of merit, that made for him an inseparable unity with God, such that it was not accidental, nor a taking up of his soul by a mere assumption of person, but one bestowed upon him by the merit of his virtues, hear the Prophet saying to him: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." By the merit of love, therefore, he is anointed with the oil of gladness, that is, the soul of Christ is made Christ with the Word of God. For to be anointed with the oil of gladness signifies nothing other than to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the fact that He said "above thy fellows" indicates that the grace of the Spirit was not given to him just as it was to the prophets, but that the very [presence] of the Word of God...

^A substantial, as the Apostle also said: "In whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Therefore, for this reason he not only said, "Thou hast loved righteousness," but added, "And hated iniquity." For to hate iniquity is what the Scripture says concerning Him, because "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth," and what it says: "Tempted in all things according to the likeness, without sin." But the Lord Himself also says: "Which of you will convict me of sin?" And again He says of Himself: "Behold, the prince of this world cometh, and in me he finds nothing." All of which indicate that no sense of sin existed in Him. That the prophet might designate this more evidently—that a sense of iniquity never entered into Him—he said: "Before the child knows to call father or mother, he turns himself away from iniquity."

5. If it should seem difficult to anyone, because we have shown above that the soul in Christ is a rational soul, since we have frequently demonstrated throughout all our disputations that the nature of souls is capable of both good and evil, in this way the difficulty of this matter will be explained. The nature of that soul, indeed, which was the same as the nature of all souls, cannot be doubted; otherwise, it could not be called a soul if it were not truly a soul. But because the faculty of choosing good and evil is present to all, this soul which belongs to Christ ^B chose to love righteousness in such a way that, on account of the immensity of its love, it cleaved to it inconvertibly and inseparably, so that the firmness of its purpose, the immensity of its affection, and the inextinguishable heat of its love cut off every sense of conversion and mutation; and what was positioned in the power of choice had, by the affection of long use, already been turned into nature. Thus, it is to be believed that the soul in Christ was indeed human and rational, and it is not to be thought that it had any sense or possibility of sin.

6. Further, for a fuller explanation of the matter, it does not seem absurd if we use some similitude, although on a matter so arduous and so difficult, there is not an abundance of suitable examples. Nevertheless, that we may speak without any prejudice: the metal of iron is capable of cold and heat. If, therefore, some mass of iron were always placed in the fire, receiving the fire in all its pores and all its veins, and becoming entirely fire, if neither does the fire ever cease from it, nor is it ever separated from the fire, should we not say that this mass, which by nature is indeed iron, ^D is able to receive cold at times? Rather, what is more true, we perceive with our eyes that as it often happens in furnaces, we say it has become entirely fire, since nothing else is seen in it but fire; but also if anyone attempts to touch and handle it, he will feel not the force of iron, but the force of fire. In this way, therefore, that soul also which, like iron in the fire, is thus always placed in the Word, always in the wisdom, always in God, acts, feels, and understands everything as God; and therefore it cannot be called convertible or mutable, as it possessed irrevocability from the unity of the Word of God, being incessantly ignited. Finally, some heat of the Word of God is to be thought to have reached all the saints; but in this soul, the divine fire itself is to be believed to have rested substantially, from which some heat came to the others. Finally, what He said, because "God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows," shows that this soul is anointed with the oil of gladness—that is, with the Word of God and wisdom—in one way, and the partakers of Him—that is, the holy prophets and apostles—are anointed in another. For they are said to have run in the odor of His ointments: but this soul was the very vessel of the ointment, from whose fragrance all the worthy prophets and apostles became partakers. As, therefore, the substance of the ointment is one thing, and its odor is another, so Christ is one thing, and the partakers of Him are another. And as the vessel itself, which contains the substance of the ointment, can in no way receive any stench, while those who partake of its odor, if they remove themselves a little further from its fragrance, it is possible for them to receive a stench upon them; so it was impossible for Christ, as the vessel itself in which the substance of the ointment was, to receive a contrary odor. But His partakers, the closer they shall have been to the vessel, the more they will be partakers and capable of the odor.

9 7. I indeed think that the prophet Jeremiah also, understanding what the nature of the wisdom of God is which is in Him, which also is this same one that He took up for the salvation of the world, said: "The spirit of our countenance is Christ the Lord, to whom we said that we will live in His shadow among the nations." For I think that by "the shadow of our body" being inseparable from the body, and inseparably receiving and carrying the motions and gestures of the body, he wanted to show that he called this the shadow of Christ the Lord, which is the work and movement of the soul of Christ which cleaved to Him inseparably, and through whose motion and will He performed all things, in which...

we might live as a shadow among the nations. For the nations live in the sacrament of this assumption, who, imitating this through faith, come to salvation. But since David also says: “Remember the reproach of my servant, O Lord, which they have reproached me with in the exchange of your Christ,” ^A it seems to me to suggest similar things. And what else does Paul feel when he says, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God?” And in another place he says: “Do you seek a proof of Christ, who speaks in me?” And now he calls Christ hidden in God. Unless some understanding of this matter is indicated, such as we have said above was signified by the prophet through the shadow of Christ, perhaps this meaning itself exceeds the human mind. But we also see many other things inserted in the divine Scriptures concerning the significance of a shadow, as that which is in the Gospel according to Luke, when Gabriel says to Mary: “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” ^B And the Apostle says concerning the law, that “they serve the likeness and shadow of heavenly things,” those who have carnal circumcision. And elsewhere it is said: “Is not our life upon the earth a shadow?” If, therefore, the law which is upon the earth is a shadow, and we live in the shadow of Christ among the nations, it must be seen lest the truth of all these shadows be known in that revelation when now, not through a glass and in a riddle, but face to face, all the saints will merit to behold the glory of God and the causes of things and the truth. Having already received the pledge of this truth through the Holy Spirit, the Apostle used to say: “Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, but now we know him no longer.” ^C These things, for the present, could occur to us as we dispute about matters so difficult, that is, about the incarnation and the deity of Christ. If anyone can truly find anything better, and confirm what he says with clearer assertions from the Holy Scriptures, let those be received rather than these.

Chapter VII. De Spiritu sancto.

1. Since therefore we have explained the first discourses that were necessary about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the beginning, as the matter had demanded, it seemed that we should repeat them again, and show that God is the same, the creator of the world, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, of the law and the prophets and the ^D Gospels; then furthermore also concerning Christ, that he who was shown above to be the Word and wisdom of God, it was also necessary to demonstrate in the following how he became man; it remains that we also repeat as briefly as we can concerning the Holy Spirit. The time is therefore now for us to discourse to the best of our ability about the Holy Spirit, whom our Lord and Savior in the Gospel according to John called the Paraclete. For as the same God is the same, and the same Christ is the same, so also the same Holy Spirit is the same who was in the prophets and in the apostles, that is, whether in those who believed in God before the coming of Christ, or in those who through Christ have fled to God. And while we have heard that heretics dared to speak of two gods, and two Christs, yet we have never heard of two Holy Spirits being preached by anyone. For how could they affirm this from the Scriptures, or what difference could they provide between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit? If, however, any definition or description of the Holy Spirit can be found. For even if we were to grant to Marcion or Valentinus that they could introduce differences of deity, and describe one nature as that of the good, and another as that of the just, what will they devise, and what will they find, to introduce a difference in the Holy Spirit? I think, therefore, that they can find nothing to serve as proof of any difference whatsoever.

2. But we believe that the rational creature in its entirety assumes participation in him, in like manner as in the wisdom of God and the Word of God, without any difference. I see, however, that the preeminent arrival of the Holy Spirit to men after the ascension of Christ into the heavens is declared more than before his arrival. For previously the gift of the Holy Spirit was provided only to the prophets, and to a few, if anyone by chance in the people had merited it; but after the arrival of the Savior, it is written that that which was said in the prophet Joel has been fulfilled, because “It shall be in the last days, and I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy;” which is certainly such as that which he says: “All nations shall serve him.” Therefore, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, along with many other things, that most magnificent thing is also demonstrated, that those things which are written in the prophets, or by the law of Moses, few at that time, that is, the prophets themselves, and scarcely where one from all the people could surpass the corporeal understanding, and could understand something greater, that is, something spiritual in the law or

prophets; but now there are numberless multitudes of believers, who, though they cannot all explain the consequence of spiritual understanding in order and with clarity (32), yet all have the persuasion that neither ought circumcision to be understood corporally, nor the rest of the Sabbath, nor the shedding of the blood of animals, nor that responses were given by God to Moses concerning these things: a sense which, without doubt, it is suggested to all by the power of the Holy Spirit.

3. But just as there are many understandings of Christ, who although He is Wisdom, yet does not act in all with the force of wisdom, nor attain it, except in those who study wisdom in Him: nor, when He is called a physician, does He act towards all as a physician, but only towards those who, having understood the languor of their own sickness, flee to His mercy, that they may be able to obtain health; so I think it is also with the Holy Spirit, in whom is every nature of gifts. For to some is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to others the word of knowledge, to others faith (34), and thus through each one who is able to receive it, this is accomplished, or this Spirit ^B Himself is understood, of whom he who has merited to participate stands in need. Those who do not notice these divisions and differences, when they hear Him called the Paraclete in the Gospel, nor consider from what work or act the Paraclete is so named, have compared Him to I know not what base spirits, and through this have attempted to disturb the Churches of Christ, so as to generate no small dissensions among the brethren. But the Gospel shows Him to be of such power and majesty, that it says the apostles were not yet able to receive those things which the Savior wished to teach them, until the Holy Spirit should come (33), who, infusing Himself into their souls, would be able to illuminate them regarding the reason and faith of the Trinity. But these men, on account of the lack of skill of their own intellect, because not only are they unable to explain consecutively what is right, but cannot even give audience to those things which are said by us, thinking less than is worthy of His divinity, have surrendered themselves to errors and deceptions, depraved rather by an erratic spirit than instructed by the institutions of the Holy Spirit, according to what the Apostle said: "Following the doctrine of demons, of those who forbid marriage to the destruction ^C and ruin of many, and command to abstain from foods, so that by an ostentation of stricter observance they may seduce innocent souls (43)."

4. It behooves us to know that the Holy Spirit, teaching things greater than can be expressed by voice (34), and, if I may so say, things that are ineffable, and "things which it is not permitted for man to speak," that is, which cannot be indicated in human language. But that he says "it is not permitted," we understand it as "it is not possible," spoken by the Apostle, just as also where he says (35): "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient; all things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify." For those things the power of which is within us, because we can have them, he says are lawful for us. But the Paraclete, because He is called the Holy Spirit, is named from consolation. For *paraclesis* in Latin is called consolation. For if anyone has merited to participate in the Holy Spirit, having recognized the ineffable sacraments, he undoubtedly assumes consolation and the joy of the heart. For when he has recognized the reasons of all things that happen, why or how they happen, with the Spirit indicating, his soul can in no way be disturbed, or receive any sense of grief (36); nor is he terrified by anything, since cleaving to the Word of God and His wisdom, he calls Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit (37). But since we have made mention of the Paraclete, and have explained according to our strength how one ought to think about Him; but our Savior is also called Paraclete in the Epistle of John when it says: "If anyone of us has sinned, we have a Paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and He Himself is (38) the propitiation for our sins"; let us consider whether perhaps this appellation of Paraclete might signify one thing here concerning the Savior, and another concerning the Holy Spirit. For Paraclete seems to be said of the Savior as an intercessor. For Paraclete in Greek signifies both, an intercessor and a comforter. Therefore, on account of the word that follows, where he says: "And He himself is the propitiation for our sins," the name of Paraclete seems likely to be understood more in the Savior as an intercessor; for He is said to intercede with the Father for our sins (39). Concerning the Holy Spirit, Paraclete ought to be understood as comforter (40), for the reason that He provides consolation to souls to whom He openly reveals the sense of spiritual knowledge.

CHAPTER VIII. On the soul.

1. After these things, the order now requires us also to inquire about the soul generally, and to ascend from lower things to higher ones. For that there are souls in each and every animal, even in those which dwell in the waters, I think is doubted by no one. For even the common opinion of all preserves this,

and the confirmation of the authority of Holy Scripture is added, when it is said, "God made the great whales and every soul of creeping creatures which the waters brought forth after their kind. ^A" Even from common rational intelligence, this is confirmed by those who determine the definition of the soul with certain words. For the soul is defined in this way, that it is a *phantastikē* and *hormētikē* substance, which in Latin, although it cannot be explained as properly, can yet be called sensible and mobile. This, indeed, is appropriate to say of all animals, and of those which dwell in the waters; but the same definition of the soul is also conveniently shown in birds.

Indeed, Scripture has added the authority of another opinion, when it says: "You shall not eat blood, because the soul of all flesh is its blood, and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh ^B," in which it most evidently designates the blood of all animals as their soul. But if someone should inquire how it is said that the soul of all flesh is its blood, regarding bees, wasps, and ants, and those things which are in the waters, the oysters and snails, and whatever else exists that lacks blood and is most evidently shown to be living creatures, it must be answered that in living creatures of this kind, the vigor of the red blood has power, and this vigor is possessed in them by that humor which is within them, even if it is of a different color. For it does not matter what the color is, provided the substance be vital.

Regarding beasts of burden or cattle, that they are living creatures, there is no doubt even according to common opinion. Yet the pronouncement of divine Scripture is evident, when God says: "Let the earth bring forth a living soul according to its kind, quadrupeds and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kind ^C." But now, concerning man, although there is no doubt for anyone, nor could anyone ask [about it], yet divine Scripture also designates that "God breathed into his face the breath of life, and man was made into a living soul ^D."

It remains to inquire concerning the angelic order, whether they themselves have souls, or are souls, or [if this applies] to the rest of the divine and celestial powers, but also to the contrary powers. We find no authority of divine Scripture anywhere that either angels, or if there are any divine spirits who are ministers of God, have souls or are called souls; yet they are felt by very many to be living creatures. Concerning God, however, we find it written thus: "And I will set my soul against that soul which has eaten blood, and I will root it out from its people [n]; and elsewhere: "Your new moons and your sabbaths and your feast days my soul hates [o]." And in the twenty-first Psalm concerning Christ (for it is certain that this psalm is ascribed to the person of Christ, just as the Gospel confirms), it is thus said: "But you, Lord, do not make your help far from me; look to my defense, deliver my soul from the sword, O God, and my darling from the hand of the dog [p]." Although there are many other testimonies concerning the soul of Christ while placed in the flesh.

2. But the reason concerning the incarnation occurs, which removes the question. For as he truly had flesh, so he truly had a soul. But concerning the fact that God's soul is named in the Scriptures, how it ought to be understood, it is difficult both to feel and to express; for we profess once for all that that nature is simple and without the mixture of any addition; yet in some way or other it is felt that God's soul is named; but there is no doubt concerning Christ. And therefore it does not seem absurd to me also to say or feel something of the sort concerning the holy angels and the rest of the celestial powers. Since that definition of the soul seems to fall upon them as well. For who could reasonably deny that they are sensible or mobile? But if this seems to be the correct definition, that the soul is called a rationally sensible and mobile substance, this same definition seems to pertain to the angels as well. For what else is in them than reasonable sense and motion?

For those who have one rationale of definition, of these without doubt the substance is the same. Paul indeed signifies that there is a certain animal man, whom he declares unable to receive those things which are of the Spirit of God; but he says that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit seems foolish to him, nor can he understand what is spiritually discerned. But also in another place he says that an animal body is sown, and a spiritual body rises, showing that in the resurrection of the just, nothing animal will exist. And therefore we inquire lest by chance there be some substance which, according to what it is as soul, is imperfect. But whether it is imperfect for that reason, because it has lapsed from perfection, or it has been made such by God, when we have begun to discuss each thing in order, we shall inquire. For if the animal man does not receive those things which are of the Spirit of God, and because he is animal, he cannot receive the intelligence of a better nature—that is, a divine one—perhaps for this reason, Paul wishing to teach us more evidently what the man is, [continues]...

^A that we are able to understand things which are of the spirit—that is, spiritual things—joins and associates the mind rather than the soul with the Holy Spirit. For I think he shows this when he says: "I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the mind." He does not say, "I will pray with the soul," but "with the spirit and with the mind"; and he does not say, "I will sing with the soul," but "I will sing with the spirit and with the mind."

JEROME'S INTERPRETATION

But even from the very meaning of the name "soul," which it indicates in Greek, it has seemed to some who inquire more curiously that a not inconsiderable understanding can be suggested. For the divine word said that God is fire, when it says: "Our God is a consuming fire." But also concerning the substance of the angels, it says thus: "Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire," and elsewhere: "The angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire in the bush." Moreover, we have also received the command to be "fervent in spirit," by which without doubt the fiery and hot Word of God is shown. But also the prophet Jeremiah hears from Him who gave him answers: "Behold, I have given my words in your mouth as fire." Just as, therefore, God is fire, and the angels are a flame of fire, and all the saints are fervent in spirit; so in contrast, those who have fallen from the love of God have without doubt cooled in His charity and are to be said to have become cold. For the Lord also says, that "because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold." But also all things whatsoever that are compared to the adverse power in the Holy Scriptures are always said to be found cold: what is found colder than the devil? But he is also said to reign in the sea. For the prophet designates the serpent and the dragon—which is certainly turned back to one of the evil spirits—as being in the sea. And elsewhere the prophet says: "I will bring my holy sword upon the fleeing serpent, upon the perverse serpent dragon, and shall kill him." And again he says: "Even if they should depart from my sight, and descend into the depths of the sea, there I will command the dragon and it will bite them." But also in Job he himself is called the king of all that are in the waters. But the prophet declares that evils are kindled from the North upon all who inhabit the earth. But the North is designated in the Holy Scriptures as a cold wind, as is written in Wisdom: "Cold is the wind of the North." Which itself also should without doubt be understood concerning the devil. If, therefore, those things which are holy are named both fire and light and fervent, but things which are contrary are called cold, and the charity of many is said to grow cold, it is to be inquired whether perhaps the name of the soul, which in Greek is called *psyche*, may have been spoken and transferred from cooling down from a more divine and better state.

^A For it seems to have cooled down from that natural and divine heat, and thus it remains in this state and in this name. Finally, inquire if you can easily find the term "soul" used in a praiseworthy sense in the Holy Scriptures; more frequently, however, it occurs in a culpable sense, as where it is said: "An evil soul destroys him who possesses it" (Eccli. vi. 4), and "The soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezech. xviii. 4). For after it was said, "All souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine," it would certainly seem appropriate that he should have added, "The soul that does justice, it shall be saved; and the soul that sins, it shall die." But now we see that he has added the attribute of culpability to the soul, while he has remained silent regarding what was praiseworthy. ^B 96 We must therefore see whether, as we have said, it may be declared by the very name itself, based on the fact that it has cooled down from the fervor of the just and from participation in the divine fire (63) — that *psyche*, that is, soul, has been so named—without, however, having lost the ability to return to that state of fervor in which it was from the beginning. Whence the Prophet also seems to point to something of this sort when he says: "Return, O my soul, into thy rest" (Ps. cxvi. 7). From all of which it seems to be shown that the mind, declining from its state and dignity, has been changed into and called soul; and if it is repaired and corrected, it returns to being a mind. ^C

* The mind, then, becomes soul, and a soul, once corrected, becomes mind. From the fact that it fell and cooled down from the spiritual life, it became a soul, which can also return to that which it was from the beginning. And I conceive this to be signified by the Prophet when he says: "Return, O my soul, into thy rest," so that this might be the whole meaning.

Hieronymian Version

4. But if this is so, it seems to me that the departure of the soul itself should not be considered equal in all, but that it is changed into a soul in greater or lesser measure, and that some minds preserve something even of their former vigor, while others preserve nothing, or some very small amount. Whence it is found that some are born with a keener intellect from their very infancy, while others are slower, and some are very dull and utterly unteachable. Nevertheless, let him who reads more diligently discuss with himself and weigh what we have said (65)—that the mind is changed into a soul, or whatever else may seem to be aimed at in this—but let these things not be thought by us to be put forth as dogmas, but as matters to be discussed and inquired into in the manner of an investigation. But let him who reads also add this to the discussion: that even concerning the Savior's soul, it is observed from those things which are written in the Gospel that there are things which are ascribed to him under the name of soul, and others which are deputed under the name of Spirit. For when he wishes to indicate some passion or perturbation of his own, he indicates it under the name of soul, as when he says: "Now is my soul troubled" (Joan. xii. 27), and "My soul is sorrowful even unto death" (Matth. xxvi. 38), and "I lay down my soul" (Joan. x. 18); but I lay it down myself. But he commends into the hands of the Father not his soul, but his spirit; and when he says the flesh is weak, he does not call the soul prompt, but the spirit; whence the soul seems to be a sort of medium between the weak flesh and the prompt spirit.

5. But perhaps some one may occur to us from those whom we have warned in our propositions, and say: Why then is the soul of God also spoken of? To whom we shall respond in this manner: because as all things which are spoken of God corporally (67)—that is, either fingers, or hands, or arms, or eyes, or feet, or mouth—we say that not these human members, but certain virtues of his are indicated by these appellations of bodily members; so also it is to be thought that there is something else which is indicated by this appellation which is called the soul of God. And if it is lawful for us to dare to say something more in such a matter (69), perhaps the soul of God may be understood as his only-begotten Son. For just as the soul inserted through the whole body moves everything and stirs what it works throughout the whole, so also the only-begotten Son of God, who is his Word and wisdom, reaches and arrives at every virtue of God, being inserted into it. And perhaps on account of the indication of this sacrament...

God is called or described in the Scriptures as a body. ^A One must certainly consider whether it may perhaps also be understood that the Only-Begotten of God is the soul in this case, since He Himself came into this place of affliction, and descended into the valley of weeping, and into the place of our humiliation; as it says in the Psalm: "For Thou hast humbled us in the place of affliction." Finally, I know that some, interpreting that which was said by the Savior in the Gospel: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death," have interpreted it as referring to the apostles, whom He called His soul, as being better than the rest of the body. For since the multitude of believers is said to be His body, they have said that the apostles ought to be understood as the soul, as being better than the rest of the body. These things, as far as we were able, we have brought forward concerning the rational soul, to be discussed rather by the readers than as things established and defined. But as for the souls of animals and other mute creatures, those things which we have said above absolutely should suffice.

97 CHAPTER IX.

On the world and the motions of rational creatures, whether good or evil, and the causes thereof.

1. But now let us return to the order of our proposed discussion, and let us contemplate the beginning of creation, whatever that beginning was which the mind of the creating God could behold. In that beginning, ^B it must be thought, God made as great a number of rational creatures, or intellectual beings, or whatever else they are to be called, which we have termed minds above, as He foresaw He could suffice for, or hold under His providence; just as He also prepared such a quantity of matter as He could adorn. For it is certain that He made them according to some number fixed beforehand with Himself: for it is not to be thought, as some desire, that they have no end; because where there is no end, there can be no comprehension, nor any circumscription. But if that were so, then that which is made could neither be contained nor dispensed by God. Assuredly, in its nature, whatever is infinite will be incomprehensible. Furthermore, as Scripture says: "God hath created all things in number and measure," and for this reason, number will rightly be applied to rational creatures, or minds, so that they may be as great as can be dispensed, ruled, and contained by the providence of God. But measure will consequently be applied to corporeal matter, ^C which is certainly to be believed to have been created by God in such quantity as He knew would suffice for the adornment of the world. These, therefore, are things which are to be thought to have been created by God in the beginning, that is, before all things. And this, indeed, we think is implied even in that beginning which Moses introduced more obscurely when he says: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." For it is certain that this is spoken not of the firmament, nor of the dry land, but of that heaven and earth whose names the heaven and earth which we see later inherited.

2. But since these rational natures, which we said were made in the beginning, were made when they did not previously exist—by this very fact that they were not, and began to be—they necessarily remained convertible and mutable, ^D because whatever virtue was in their substance did not reside in them naturally, but was effected by the grace of the Creator. What they are, therefore, is not their own, nor is it everlasting, but was given by God. For it did not always exist; and everything that is given can also be taken away and recede. The cause of receding, however, will lie in whether the motion of the minds is not rightly and appropriately directed. For the Creator allowed voluntary and free motions to the minds created by Him, so that what was a good in them might become their own, since it was maintained by their own will; but sloth and the weariness of labor in maintaining the good, and aversion and negligence of better things, gave the beginning of receding from the good. To recede, however, from the good...

is nothing else than to be formed in evil. For it is certain that evil is to be lacking in good. From which it happens that in the measure anyone might turn back from the good, to that same measure they would arrive at malice. In which, indeed, each mind, whether more or less ^A neglecting the good on account of its own movements, was drawn toward the contrary of the good, which is without doubt evil. From which it appears that the Creator of all things received certain seeds and causes of variety and diversity, so that according to the diversity of minds—that is, reasonable creatures—which diversity we have said above they must be thought to have conceived, He might create a varied and diverse world. And what we mean by "varied and diverse," this is what we wish to indicate.

3. We call the world, now, everything that is above the heavens, or in the heavens, or upon the earth, or in those things which are called below ^B or whatever places there are anywhere at all, and those who are named as dwelling within them. All this, therefore, is called the world. In which world some things are said to be supercelestial, that is, placed in happier dwelling-places and clothed in more celestial and splendid bodies, and in these very things many differences are displayed; just as, for example, the Apostle also says, that "there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory." ^C But some things are called earthly, and among them also there is no small difference; that is, among human beings; for some of them are barbarians, others Greeks; and some of the barbarians are fierce and wild, others milder. And some indeed use highly approved laws, others inferior or harsher ones, and others also use customs that are more inhuman and bestial than laws. And some are indeed humbled immediately from the beginning of their birth, and are subject, and are reared servilely, whether placed under masters or under princes or tyrants; ^D while others are reared more freely and reasonably. Others are born with healthy bodies, some with sickly ones immediately from their earliest age; others are deprived of sight, others of hearing and speech, some born so, others deprived of such senses immediately after birth, or certainly having suffered some such thing in adult age. And what does it matter to unfold for me all the human calamities and to enumerate them, from which some are free and others involved, when each one can also consider and weigh these things for himself? There are also certain invisible powers, to whom the things that are upon the earth have been committed to be dispensed; and no small difference must be believed to exist also among them, just as ^A it is found also among men. Indeed, the Apostle Paul designates that there are also certain infernal powers, and in them in like manner the cause of variety must without doubt be sought. But as for mute animals and birds, and those things that inhabit the waters, it seems superfluous to inquire, since it is certain that these ought to be accepted not as primary, but as consequent.

4. Since, therefore, it is said that all things that were made, were made through Christ and in Christ, just as the Apostle Paul most clearly designates, saying: "For in Him and through Him all things were created, whether they are in heaven or on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or powers, or principalities, or dominions; all things through Him and in Him were created." But John also in the ^B Gospel demonstrates the same, saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made." But it is also written in the psalm: "You have made all things in wisdom." Since therefore Christ, as He is the Word and wisdom, is also justice, it will without doubt be consequent that those things which were made in the Word and wisdom are also said to be made in the justice which is Christ; with the result that in those things which were made, nothing unjust, nothing fortuitous may appear, but everything is taught to be just as the rule of equity and justice demands. How therefore such great variety, and such great diversity of things can be understood as most just and most equitable, ^C I am certain cannot be explained by human intellect or speech, unless we, prostrate and suppliant, entreat the Word Himself and the wisdom and justice who is the only-begotten Son of God, who through His grace, infusing Himself into our senses, may deign to illuminate the obscure, to open the closed, and to reveal the hidden things: if indeed we be found sufficiently worthy to ask, or to seek, or to knock, so that we may merit either to receive, being those who ask, or to find, being those who seek, or to have it opened, for those who knock. Not relying, therefore, on our own intellect, but on the help of that Wisdom who made all things, and His justice which we believe to be in all creatures, meanwhile, even if we are not able to assert it, we shall nevertheless attempt, trusting in His mercy, to inquire and ^D search into how this such great variety and diversity of the world may be seen to consist with every justice and reason. I mean, however, only a general reason; for to seek the special reason of individuals is the mark of an inexperienced person, and to wish to render it is that of a madman.

^A 5. But to those who say to us that this world is placed in such variety, which we explained above, was made by God, whom we call God, and good, and just, and most equitable, many are accustomed to object—especially those coming from the school of Marcion, and Valentinus, and Basilides, who have heard that there are diverse natures of souls—how it is consistent with the justice of God, who makes the world, to offer a habitation to some indeed in the heavens, and not only to provide a better dwelling for them, but also to grant them a certain higher and more remarkable degree, to indulge some with principalities, to assign powers and dominations to others, to grant to others the most ample seats of heavenly tribunals, for some to shine more radiantly and to sparkle with sidereal splendor, and for others to have the glory of the sun, for others the glory of the moon, for others the glory of the stars; for star to differ from star in glory; and, in a word, to say everything at once, if to God the creator there is wanting neither the desire for a supreme and good work, nor the faculty of perfecting it, what cause could have existed that, while creating rational natures—that is, those for whose existence He Himself was the cause—He should make some higher, and others secondary, or third, and others already inferior by many degrees and procreate them as worse?

Then they further object regarding those things which are on earth, that a happier lot of birth had fallen to some, so that one, for example, is generated from Abraham, and is born from the promise, and another from Isaac and Rebecca, and he who, while still placed in the womb, supplants his brother, and before he is born is said to be loved by God. Or this very thing, that one is born among the Hebrews, among whom he might find the learning of the divine law; but another among the Greeks, and among the wise men themselves, and men of no small learning; ^B now indeed another among the Ethiopians, with whom the custom of eating human flesh prevails; or among the Scythians, with whom parricide is committed as if by law; or among the Tauri, where guests are sacrificed. They say to us, therefore: If such a great diversity of things, and a condition of birth so varied and so diverse, in which case the faculty of free will certainly has no place (for no one chooses for himself either where, or among whom, or in what condition he is born); if, therefore, they say, this is not caused by the diversity of the nature of souls, that is, that these are destined for an evil nation, and others for good ones, what else remains, unless these things are thought to be done by chance and accident? Which, if it were accepted, then it would be believed that the world was neither made by God, nor ruled by His providence, and consequently, neither would the judgment of God seem to be awaited regarding the actions of each person. In which matter, what the truth of things is to a certainty, it belongs to Him alone to know who searches all things, even the deep things ^C of God.

6. We, however (not to nourish the insolence of heretics by keeping silent), regarding those things which, to the extent of our ability, can occur to us in reply to what they have presented, shall answer in this way. We have frequently shown by the divine Scriptures, as far as we have been able, that the creator of all things is a good, and just, and omnipotent God. When He, in the beginning, created those things which He wished to create, that is, rational natures, He had no other cause for creating except for His own sake, that is, His own goodness. Since, therefore, He Himself was the cause of those things that were to be created, in whom there was neither any variety, nor change, nor impossibility, He created all those He created equal and similar, since indeed no cause for variety and diversity existed for Him.

But since rational creatures themselves, as we have frequently shown, and as we shall show nonetheless in their own place, have been gifted with the faculty of choice, the liberty of each one’s own will provoked them either to progress through the imitation of God, or to descent through negligence. And this was the cause, as we have already said above, of the diversity among rational creatures, not drawing its origin from the will or judgment of the Creator, but from the arbitration of one’s own liberty. But God, to whom it seemed just to dispense His creature according to its merit, brought the diversities of minds into the consonance of one world, that he might adorn it, as if it were a single house in which there ought to be not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthen, and some indeed to honor, but others to dishonor, from these diverse vessels, whether souls or minds; and this world, as I judge, received those causes for its diversity, while divine providence, in accordance with the variety of their motions, or the purposes of their souls, ^D distributes each.

And through this, neither will the Creator appear unjust, since He distributes to each according to preceding causes, based on merit; ^A nor will the happiness or unhappiness of birth for anyone, or whatever condition may happen to befall them, be considered fortuitous, nor will different creators or different natures of souls be believed.

7. But lest it seem that the Holy Scripture has kept silent about the reason for this deep mystery ^B—as when the apostle Paul, disputing about Jacob and Esau, says: "For when they had not yet been born, and had done nothing good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls, it was said that the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau" 87; and after this he answers himself and says: "What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God?" 80; and in order to provide us with an opportunity of inquiring about these things and examining how they might not happen without reason, he answers himself and says—the same question, as it seems to me, which is proposed concerning Jacob and Esau, can also be held concerning all celestial and terrestrial creatures and those of the underworld. And similarly it seems to me, just as it is said there: "For when they had not yet been born, and had done nothing good or evil," so also it can be said of all other things: "For when they had not yet been created, and had done nothing good or evil 11 that the purpose of God according to election might stand" (as some think), "some indeed were made celestial, others terrestrial, and others of the underworld, ^C not of works (as they think), but of him who calls." What then shall we say, if these things are so? "Is there therefore injustice with God? God forbid." Therefore, just as when the Scriptures are diligently examined regarding Esau and Jacob it is found that there is no injustice with God, such that before they were born, or had done anything in this life, it was said "because the elder shall serve the younger," and that it is found not to be an injustice that Jacob supplanted his brother in the womb, if we understand that because of the merits of a previous life he was rightly loved by God, so that he deserved to be preferred to his brother; so also concerning celestial, terrestrial, and infernal creatures, if we note that this diversity of theirs is not from the beginning of the creature, but from preceding causes due to the dignity of merit, a different office is prepared for each by the Creator, ^D flowing from the fact that each one, in that it was created a mind by God or a rational spirit, had prepared for itself, according to the motions of the mind and the senses of the soul, more or less merit, and had become either lovable or hateful to God; yet some among those who are established with better merits are ordered to adorn the state of the world by being compassionate to the rest and to provide service to the lower ones, by which they themselves also exist as participants in the patience of the Creator; according to what the Apostle himself says: "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope" 89. Observing, therefore, this judgment 90 which the Apostle, explaining the birth of Esau and Jacob, stated: "Is there injustice with God? God forbid"; I judge that this same judgment ought to be kept in all creatures as well; for, as we said above, the justice of the Creator must appear in all things. Which, as it seems to me, will be revealed more clearly if the causes of the diversity of each one, whether of celestial, terrestrial, or infernal things, are said to have existed in themselves before their corporeal birth. For by the Word of God and his wisdom all things were created, and were ordered unto justice by him. But through the grace of his mercy he provides for all, and encourages all, by whatever remedies they can be cured, and calls them to salvation.

8. As therefore there is no doubt that in the future judgment the good shall be separated from the bad, and the just from the unjust, and that each one shall be distributed according to their merit through those places of which they are worthy, as we shall show by God's will in the following; I think that something similar was already done even before. For all things indeed must be believed to be managed and dispensed by God with judgment. That also which the Apostle teaches, saying: "In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthen, and some indeed unto honor, but others unto dishonor," and what he adds, saying: "Because if any man shall cleanse himself, he shall be a vessel unto honor" 20, sanctified...

[LIBER SECUNDUS.]

to the Lord, as useful for every good work; this shows without doubt that he who has purged himself, having been placed in this life, will be prepared for every good work in the future; but he who has not purged himself will be, according to the extent of his impurity, a vessel for reproach, that is, unworthy. Thus, therefore, it is possible to understand that there were also beforehand reasonable vessels, either purged or less purged—that is, those which either purged themselves or did not purge themselves—and from this each vessel, according to the measure of its purity or impurity, received its place or region, or condition of being born, or of accomplishing something in this world; all of which God, up to the smallest detail, foreseeing and knowing by the power of His wisdom, disposes all things by the governance of His judgment with the most just retribution, so that to each one, according to his merit, support or counsel should be given. In this, truly, the entire logic of equity is shown, while the inequality of things serves the equity of the retribution of merits. The reasons for which merits, in respect to each individual according to truth and to clarity, the Lord alone recognizes with His only-begotten Word and His wisdom and the Holy Spirit.

CHAPTER X. On the resurrection and judgment, on the fire of hell and punishments.

1. But since our discourse has reminded us of the future judgment and of retribution, and of the punishments of sinners, according to what the Holy Scriptures threaten and ecclesiastical preaching contains, regarding the fact that at the time of judgment eternal fire and outer darkness and the prison and the furnace, and other things similar to these, are prepared for sinners; let us see what one ought to think about these things as well. But in order to arrive at these in coherent order, it seems to me that the discourse should first be started concerning the resurrection, so that we may know what it is that will come either to punishment, or to rest, or to blessedness; concerning which, in other books which we have written about the resurrection, we have disputed more fully, and have shown what we thought about this. But even now, because of the coherence of the treatise, it does not seem absurd to repeat a few things from it: especially because some take offense at the ecclesiastical faith, as if we believed in the resurrection foolishly and entirely without wisdom; especially heretics, to whom I think one must reply in this way. If they themselves also confess that the resurrection of the dead exists, let them answer us what it is that has died. Is it not the body? Therefore, the resurrection of the body takes place. Then, next, let them say if they think we ought to use bodies or not. I think that since the Apostle Paul says, “It is sown a soulish body, it will rise a spiritual body,” it is impossible for them to deny that a body rises, or that we use bodies in the resurrection. What then? If it is certain that we must use bodies, and the bodies which fell are preached to rise again (for nothing is properly said to rise again, unless it is that which fell before), there is no doubt that they rise for this reason, that we might be clothed in them again through the resurrection. Therefore, one thing follows from another. ^B For even if bodies rise, they rise without a doubt for the clothing of our resurrection; and if it is necessary for us to be in bodies, as it is certainly necessary, we must be in no others than our own bodies. If it is true that they rise and rise as spiritual bodies, there is no doubt that, having cast off corruption and laid aside mortality, they are said to rise from the dead; otherwise, it would seem vain and superfluous for anyone to rise from the dead, only to die again. This can only be understood more clearly if one diligently observes what the quality of the soulish body is, which, sown into the earth, repairs the quality of the spiritual body. For from the soulish body, the very power of the resurrection and grace draws out the spiritual body, when it transforms it from unworthiness to glory.

2. Because, therefore, these most learned and wisest heretics think themselves to be such, we will ask them if every body has some shape, that is, is formed by some habit. And if they should say that there is a body which is not formed by any habit, they will seem the most ignorant and most foolish of all. For no one will deny this, unless he were entirely alien to all learning. But if, according to what is consequent, they say that every body is formed by some certain habit, we will ask them if they can demonstrate and describe for us the habit of the spiritual body; which, in any case, they will not be able to do. But we will also ask them about the differences of those who rise. How will they show true that which was said, that “one is flesh of men, another of beasts, and celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial is one, while that of the terrestrial is another, one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory,” so also

^A if they try by any means to devise some theory based on the differences of heavenly bodies, we shall ask them to assign differences for the resurrection in accordance with the comparison of earthly bodies as well. For our part, we understand that the Apostle, wishing to describe how great the difference would be among those who will rise in glory—that is, the saints—took the comparison of heavenly bodies, saying: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.” And again, wishing to teach the differences of those who come to the resurrection without being purified in this life—that is, sinners—he takes an example from earthly things, saying: “There is one flesh of birds, another of fish.” For ^B rightfully heavenly things are compared to the saints, and earthly things to the sinners. Let these things be said against those who deny the resurrection of the dead, that is, the resurrection of the bodies.

3. But now we turn our discourse to some of our own, who, either from smallness of intellect or from poverty of explanation, introduce a very vile and abject sense of the resurrection of the body. We ask them how they understand the animal body to be changed by the grace of resurrection and to become spiritual; and how they can feel that what is sown in weakness will rise in power; what is sown in dishonor, how it arises in glory; and what is sown in corruption, how it is transferred to incorruption. If they believe the Apostle, that the body rising in glory and power and incorruptibility has already become spiritual, it seems absurd and contrary to the sense of the Apostle to say that it is again entangled in the passions of flesh and blood, since the Apostle clearly says: “For flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God; neither shall corruption possess incorruption.” But how do they accept what the Apostle says: “We shall all indeed be changed”? For this change is to be expected according to the order that we have taught above; ^C in which, without doubt, it is right for us to hope for something through divine grace; which we believe will be in the future in this order: as the Apostle describes a “naked grain of wheat or of some other things” sown in the earth, to which God gives a body as He wills, when the grain of wheat itself has first died. For our bodies too must be thought to fall into the earth like a grain; to which an implanted principle that contains the corporeal substance, even though the bodies have died and are corrupted and dispersed, yet by the Word of God that same principle which is always safe in the substance of the body, raises them from the earth and restores and repairs them, just as that power which is in the grain of wheat, after its corruption and death, repairs and restores the grain into the body of a stalk and an ear. And so to those who will merit to obtain the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, that ^D principle of repairing the body, which we mentioned above, by the command of God repairs the spiritual body from the earthly and animal body, which can dwell in the heavens; but for those who are of lower merit, or more abject, or even latest and most hidden, according to the dignity of each one's life and soul, the glory and dignity of the body is also given; yet so that even the bodies of those who are destined for the eternal fire, or for punishments, through the very transformation of the resurrection, are such that they are incorrupt, 102 so that they cannot be corrupted or dissolved even by punishments. If, therefore, the quality of that body which will rise from the dead is thus, let us now see what the threatening of eternal fire means.

...we find indeed in the prophet Isaiah sign-posted that each one’s own fire is that by which he is punished; for he says: “Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled.” By these words it seems indicated that each one of the sinners kindles for himself the flame of his own fire, and is not submerged into some fire which had been kindled beforehand by another, or which had existed before him. The matter and fuel of this fire are our sins, which the apostle Paul calls wood, and hay, and stubble. And I think that just as in the body the fuel...

^A of fevers is collected according to that measure which the intemperance of food provides and supplies to the material, the quality of which material, gathered from diverse intemperance, exists as the cause of either a more bitter disease or one more prolonged; so also when the soul has gathered into itself a multitude 47 and abundance of sins, at the fitting time all that gathering of evils ferments for punishment, and is kindled 48 into torments; when the mind itself, or the conscience, receiving into its memory by divine power all things—of which it had impressed upon itself certain signs and forms when it was sinning—and [when] it sees exposed before its eyes a certain history of the individual crimes it had committed either foully and shamefully, or even impiously; then that very conscience is agitated and pricked by its own stings, and becomes its own accuser and witness. This, I think, the apostle Paul also perceived when he said: "Their thoughts one with another accusing, or also defending, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel through Jesus Christ." ^B From which it is understood that certain torments are generated against the soul's very substance from the harmful affections of sins themselves.

5. And lest the understanding of this matter appear difficult to you, it is possible to consider from these passions and vices which are accustomed to befall souls—that is, when the soul is burned by either the flames of love 49, or is macerated by the fires of jealousy or envy; or when it is agitated by anger, or consumed by the immensity of madness or sadness—how those who carry the excess of these evils sometimes find it more tolerable to undergo death than to suffer such torments. One should indeed inquire if, for those who are entangled in these evils of vices which we have mentioned, and who, while still placed in this life, were unable to obtain any amendment for themselves, and thus departed from this world, it is sufficient for their punishment that they are tormented by those very harmful affections that persist in them, that is, by anger, or fury, or madness, or grief, the deadly poison of which is—in this life—mitigated by no medicine of amendment; or if they are to be vexed by the general ^C stimulants of punishment while these affections remain unchanged. But I also judge that there is another 51 species of punishment that can be understood; for just as we feel that the limbs of the body, when loosened and torn apart from their own joints, generate the torture of immense pain, so, when the soul is found outside the order and frame—or that harmony in which it was created by God to do well and to feel usefully—and [finds itself] not to be in accord with the frame of rational movements, it must be thought to bear the penalty and torment of its own discordance, and to feel the punishment of its own inconstancy and disorder. And when this dissolution and tearing apart of the soul has been examined in relation to the applied fire, without doubt it will be given ^D to a firmer frame and restoration.

6. There are also many other things which lie hidden from us, which are known to Him alone who is the physician of our souls. For if, for the health of the body, we sometimes have need of the care of a harsher and more biting 52 medicine for those vices which we have gathered through meat and drink; and sometimes, if the quality of the ailment requires it, we have need of the rigor of the iron and the harshness of the incision; and if the mode of the disease has even exceeded these, at the last the fire consumes the chronic vice; how much more must we understand this Physician of ours, God, wishing to wash away the vices of our souls—which had collected from the diversity of sins and crimes—as using such punitive cures, and furthermore, even applying the punishment of fire to those who have lost the health of the soul? Images 103 of this matter are also recorded in the sacred Scriptures. Finally, in Deuteronomy, the divine word threatens sinners that they will be punished 3 with fevers and chills, and with jaundice, and with vacillations of the eyes, and with alienation of mind, and with paraplegia, and with blindness, and with the debility of the loins. If anyone, therefore, should collect from his leisure among all the Scripture all the commemorations of maladies which are mentioned in the threatening 53 against sinners under the names of bodily diseases, he will find that either the vices or the punishments of the souls are figuratively indicated through this. But that we may understand that by the same reason by which physicians apply aids to the languishing in this life, in order that they may restore health through the remedy of care, etc.

and, as God also acts toward those who have fallen and lapsed into sin, there is evidence for this in what is said by the prophet Jeremiah, that the cup of the wrath of God is commanded to be given to all nations to drink, so that they may drink, and go mad, and vomit. In this He threatens, saying, ^A that whoever refuses to drink will not be cleansed. From this it is clearly understood that the wrath of God's vengeance contributes to the purification of souls. Now, that the punishment which is said to be inflicted by fire is also understood to be applied for the sake of assistance, Isaiah teaches, who says of Israel: "The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons or daughters of Zion, and will purge the blood from their midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning." Regarding the Chaldeans, he says: "You have coals of fire, sit upon them, they will be of assistance to you." And in other places he says: "The Lord will sanctify in burning fire." And in the prophet Malachi it is said: "The Lord sitting will smelt, and will purge, and will pour out the purified ^B sons of Judah."

7. But that which is said in the Gospel about the servants who are to be divided, and their portion is to be placed with the unbelievers, as if that portion which was not properly their own were to be sent elsewhere, indicates without doubt some kind of punishment for them, among whom, as it seems to me, the spirit is indicated as being separated from the soul. If this spirit is indeed to be understood as of the divine nature, that is, the Holy Spirit, we shall feel that this refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit; which, whether through baptism, or through the grace of the Spirit—when to someone the word of wisdom, or the word of knowledge, or any other gift has been given, and it has not been rightly administered, that is, has either been buried in the ground or tied up in a napkin—the gift of the Spirit will surely be taken away ^C from the soul, and the remaining part which is left, that is, the substance of the soul, will be placed with the unbelievers, divided and separated from that Spirit with whom it ought to have been one spirit when joining itself to the Lord. But if this is to be understood not of the Spirit of God, but of the nature of the soul itself, that part of it will be called better which was made in the image and likeness of God; the other part, however, is that which was afterward, through the lapse of free will against the nature of its primary condition ^D and purity, assumed, which is indeed a part, as being friendly and dear to the substance, that suffers punishment with the lot of the unbelievers.

It can also be understood in a third sense concerning this division, that, because for every one of the faithful, even if he be the least in the Church, an angel is said to be present, who is also reported by the Savior to always behold the face of God the Father, and this one was surely one with the one who presided over him; if he is rendered unworthy through disobedience, the angel of God is said to be taken away from him, and then his portion, that is, the part of human nature torn away from the part of God, is reckoned with the unbelievers, because he did not faithfully guard the admonitions of the angel appointed to him by God.

8. But I do not think that the outer darkness is some air that is obscure and without any light, but rather those who, immersed in the shadows of profound ignorance, have become ^B devoid of all light of intelligence. It should also be seen whether perhaps this passage signifies that just as the saints will receive at the resurrection their bodies, in which they lived holy and pure lives in the habitations of this life, as luminous and glorious, so also will the impious, who in this life loved the darkness of errors and the night of ignorance, be clothed with dark and black bodies after the resurrection, so that that very gloom of ignorance which had besieged their inner minds in this world might appear in the future as an outer covering of the body. Likewise, this is also to be understood regarding the prison. ^C But let these things suffice for the present place, which for now have been said as briefly as possible so that the order of discourse might be preserved.

104 Chapter XI. On the promises.

1. Let us now see briefly what is to be thought concerning the promises. It is certain that no

animal can be in any way idle or immobile, but it desires to be moved and to act and to wish for something in every kind of way; and I think it manifest that this nature is in all living beings. Much more, therefore, is it necessary for the rational animal, that is, the nature of man, always to move or to act. And if indeed he be unmindful of himself, and ignorant of what is becoming to him, his whole intent is moved about bodily uses, and through all his motions he is occupied with his pleasures and the lusts of the body; but if he be such a one as studies ^A to care for or provide something in common—either consulting for the republic, or obeying magistrates, or exercising whatever it is that may certainly seem to profit the community—he applies himself to these. But now, if anyone be such that he understands something better than these things which are seen bodily, and has a zeal for wisdom and knowledge, without doubt he will direct all industry toward such studies as these, so that he may be able to learn the causes and the reason of the things he has sought for. Therefore, just as in this life one person judges pleasure to be the supreme good of the body, another to consult for the common good, and another to apply himself to studies and intelligence; so let us seek in that life which is true, which is said to be hidden with Christ in God, that is, in that eternal life, if there will be for us any such order or status of living.

2. Those, therefore, who refuse labor in intelligence, and pursue a certain surface of the letter of the Law, and in a way indulge more in their own delight and lust, being disciples of the letter alone, think that the future promises are to be expected in bodily pleasure and luxury; and therefore they especially desire after the resurrection such fleshly things as would never fail the power of eating, and drinking, and doing all things that are of flesh and blood, ^B not following the opinion of the apostle Paul concerning the resurrection of the spiritual body. To these they consequently add, that there will be marriages and the procreation of children even after the resurrection, feigning for themselves that the earthly city of Jerusalem is to be rebuilt with precious stones for its foundations, and its walls raised from the stone jasper, and its battlements from the stone crystal; and that it will have a surrounding wall from choice and various stones, that is, jasper and sapphire, and chalcedony, and emerald, and sardius, and onyx, and chrysolith, and chrysoprase, and hyacinth, and amethyst. Furthermore, they even think that aliens will be given to them as ministers of their delights, whom they suppose to be either their plowmen or builders of walls, by whom the collapsed city may be rebuilt; and they think that the faculties of the gentiles shall be received for eating, and that they shall rule in their riches, so that even the camels of Madian and Cedar shall come, and bring them gold, and incense, and precious stones. And they attempt to confirm these things by prophetic authority from those things which were written concerning the promises of Jerusalem; ^C where it is also said that they who serve the Lord shall eat and drink, but sinners shall hunger and thirst, and that the just will rejoice, but mourning shall possess the impious. Also from the New Testament they bring forth the voice of the Savior, by which He promises to His disciples concerning the joy of wine, saying: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father." They add also that which the Savior says, that those who now hunger and thirst are blessed, promising them that they shall be filled; and they bring forward many other examples from the Scriptures, the force of which they do not perceive ought to be understood figuratively. But then, according to the form which is in this life, and according to the dispositions of dignities of this world, or of orders, or of the eminences of powers, they judge that they shall be kings and princes, just as those earthly ones are, on account of that which, evidently, was said in the Gospel: "Thou shalt have power over five cities." And, to speak briefly, according to the conversation ^D of this life they wish all things that are expected concerning the promises to be in all things similar, that is, that this which is, may be again. Thus they feel this, who, though believing in Christ, yet understanding the divine Scriptures in a certain Jewish sense, have presumed nothing from these things worthy of divine promises.

5. But those who receive the theory of the Scriptures according to the sense of the apostles, hope that the saints shall indeed eat, but the bread of life, which may nourish the soul with the foods of truth and wisdom, and illuminate the mind, and give it to drink from the cups of divine wisdom, just as divine Scripture says: "Wisdom hath built her house, she hath killed her victims, she hath mingled her wine in a cup, and she cries with a loud voice: Turn in to me, eat the bread which I have prepared for you, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you." By which foods of wisdom the mind, nourished to the whole and perfect state, just as man was made from the beginning, may be restored to the image and likeness of God; so that even if anyone from this life less

erudite, he may nevertheless be brought forth to fruit, he will be able to be instructed in that Jerusalem, the city of the saints, that is to say, to be taught 78 and modeled, and to be made a living stone, a precious and elect stone, because he will have firmly and constantly endured the agonies of life and the contests of piety; and there he will know more truly and manifestly that which has already been predicted here, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. 17 But also the princes and rulers are to be understood as those who rule over the inferiors, and educate, and teach, and instruct 79 in divine things.

4. But if these things seem to strike little desire into those who hope, we shall inquire, repeating a little, although the natural and innate desire of the soul is for the thing itself, so that at last 80 we may describe, with the sequence of theory, the very species of the bread of life and the quality of its wine and the property of the principalities. Therefore, just as in those arts which are accustomed to be accomplished by hand, the theory indeed of what is done, or in what manner, or for what uses it is done, dwells in the sense, but the efficacy is explained by the ministry of the labor of the hands; so in the works of God which were made by Him, it must be perceived that the theory and intelligence of those things which we see made by Him remains in the hidden. And just as when our eye has seen the things that have been made by a craftsman, if it has glimpsed something especially well-wrought, the mind burns to inquire into how, or in what manner, or for what uses it was made; much more, and beyond all comparison, does the mind burn with an ineffable desire to know the reason of those things which we perceive to have been made by God. Which desire, which love, we doubt not is implanted in us by God; and just as the eye naturally seeks light and sight, and our body desires food 81 and drink by nature; so our mind carries a proper and natural desire for knowing the truth of God and the causes of things. Moreover, we have received this desire from God, not for this purpose, that it should neither need to be, nor be able to be, satisfied; otherwise the love of truth would seem to have been inserted into our mind 82 by God the creator in vain, if it never attains the object of its desire. Whence also in this life, those who with the highest labor have devoted themselves to pious and religious 83 studies, although they take only a few things from the many and immense treasures of divine science, yet this very thing, that they occupy their spirits and mind with these things, and anticipate themselves in this desire, they receive much utility from this very fact, that they turn their minds to the study and love of seeking the truth, and make them more prepared ^A to receive the capacity for future erudition; just as when someone wishes to paint an image, if a thin outlining of the style 84 first designates the lineaments of the future form, and prepares the marks capable of receiving the faces to be superposed, without doubt, by the outlining, the pre-formatting imposed for receiving those true colors is found already more prepared; so in the same way let the very outlining and deforming of the style 85 of our Lord Jesus Christ be written in the tablets of our hearts. And for this reason it is perhaps said, because to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance 18. Whence it is evident that for those who have a certain deforming of truth and science in this life, the beauty of the perfect image is also to be added in the future.

5. Such, I think, was indicated by that desire of his ^B who said: *I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; for it is far better* 19; knowing that when he had returned to Christ, he would more manifestly know the reasons of all things that are done on earth, whether concerning man or the soul of man, or the mind, or from among all those things, what is the spirit that works, and what is also the vital 86 spirit, or what is the grace which is given to the faithful by the Holy Spirit. Then also he will understand what he may seem to be for Israel, or what is the diversity of the nations, what also the twelve tribes of Israel may mean for him, and what individual peoples through individual tribes. Then he will understand also about the priests and Levites, and the reason concerning the various priestly orders, and whose form it was in Moses, and nonetheless what is the truth ^C among God of the jubilees, and the weeks of years 87; but he will also see the reasons for the feast days and holidays; and he will behold the causes of all sacrifices and purifications; he will also note what is the reason for the cleansing of leprosy, and what are the various kinds of leprosy, and what purification is for those who suffer a flow of seed; and he will also recognize which and how great and what kind the virtues are that are good, and what are nonetheless the contrary ones, and who may have either a contentious emulation against these men or those. He will also behold what is the reason for souls, and what is the diversity of animals, or of those things which live in the waters, or of birds, or of wild beasts, and what it is that individual kinds are led into so many species, what is the prospect of the Creator, or what sense of His wisdom is covered through each ^D of these things. But also he will recognize by what reason certain virtues are associated with certain roots or herbs, and by others they are driven away from the contrary herbs or roots; what is the reason of the apostate angels, and what is the cause why to those who…

do not embrace them with entire faith, they might ^A either flatter in certain things, or exist on account of error and deception. But one shall also learn the judgment of divine providence concerning individuals, regarding the things that happen to men, that they do not happen by chance or accident, but by a certain plan, so sifted and so arduous, that it extends not only to the saints, but perhaps to all men, so that not even the number of their hairs shall pass away; the reason of whose providence is led even to the two sparrows which are sold for a denarius, whether these sparrows are understood spiritually or even according to the letter. For now it is still being investigated in the meantime, but then it will be clearly seen there. From all of which it is to be thought that in the meantime no small amount of time passes until the reason of those things which are on the earth is shown to those who are worthy and deserving after the departure of life, so that by the knowledge of them all and the grace of full understanding, they may enjoy ineffable joy. Then furthermore, if this air which is between heaven and earth is not empty of living beings, and of rational living beings, as the Apostle also said: "In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, the spirit that now works in the children of disbelief," and again he says: "We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."

6. It is therefore to be thought that the saints remain there for so long, ^B until they recognize the reason for the dispensation of both types of things, which are carried on in the air. But as to what I said, of both types, this is: for example, when we were on the earth, we saw animals or trees, and we beheld the differences of them, but also a very great diversity among men; but seeing these, we did not understand their reason, but this was only suggested to us from the very diversity which we saw, that we should inquire and search out by what reason all these things were either diversely created, or variously dispensed, and once such knowledge has been conceived on the earth by either study or love, there will be given to us after our departure also the cognition and intelligence of it; if, however, the matter proceeds according to our desire. When therefore we have understood its reason entirely, then in both ways we shall understand those things which we saw upon the earth. A similar thing, therefore, is also to be said concerning the aerial seat. For I think that ^C all the saints, departing from this life, will remain in some place situated on the earth, which Divine Scripture calls paradise, as in a certain place of instruction, and, if I may so say, an auditorium or school of souls, in which they may be taught about all these things which they had seen on the earth, and also receive certain tokens concerning the things which follow and are future, just as, though placed in this life also, they had conceived to some extent certain tokens of future things, although through a glass and in riddles; which are revealed more manifestly and clearly to the saints in their own places and times. If anyone indeed were pure of heart, and purer in mind, and more practiced in understanding, making progress more swiftly, he will quickly ascend to the place of the air, and will arrive at the kingdoms of the heavens through the mansions, so to speak, of the individual places; which the Greeks indeed called spheres, that is, globes, but Divine Scripture calls them heavens; in each of which he will first perceive those things which are done there, and secondly he will also recognize the reason why they are done; and so he will proceed in order, following Him who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, saying: "I will that where I am, they also may be with me." But he also indicates concerning these diversities of places when he says: "There are many mansions with my Father." Yet He Himself is everywhere, and runs through all things. Nor let us understand Him any further in that smallness in which He was made for our sake on our account; that is, not in that limitation which He had while placed on the earth among men in our body, whereby He might be thought to be enclosed in some one place.

7. When therefore the saints have arrived at ^D the celestial places, then by now they will perceive the reason of the stars one by one, and whether they are living beings, or whatever that is, they will comprehend. But they will also understand other reasons of the works of God which He Himself will reveal to them. For He will now show, as to children, the causes of things and the power of their condition; and He will teach them why that star is placed in that location of heaven, and why it is separated from another by so great a distance; for example, if it were closer, what would be the future result of this; if indeed further, what would happen; or if that star were larger than that one, how the universe would not be kept similar, but all things would be changed into some other form. Thus, therefore, having run through all things which are in the reason of the stars and in these revolutions...