Chapter 4.–Against the Wise Men of the World, Who Fancy that the Earthly Bodies of Men Cannot Be Transferred to a Heavenly Habitation.

But men who use their learning and intellectual ability to resist the
force of that great authority which, in fulfillment of what was so long
before predicted, has converted all races of men to faith and hope in
its promises, seem to themselves to argue acutely against the
resurrection of the body while they cite what Cicero mentions in the
third book De Republica. For when he was asserting the apotheosis of
Hercules and Romulus, he says: “Whose bodies were not taken up into
heaven; for nature would not permit a body of earth to exist anywhere
except upon earth.” This, forsooth, is the profound reasoning of the
wise men, whose thoughts God knows that they are vain. For if we were
only souls, that is, spirits without any body, and if we dwelt in
heaven and had no knowledge of earthly animals, and were told that we
should be bound to earthly bodies by some wonderful bond of union, and
should animate them, should we not much more vigorously refuse to
believe this, and maintain that nature would not permit an incorporeal
substance to be held by a corporeal bond? And yet the earth is full of
living spirits, to which terrestrial bodies are bound, and with which
they are in a wonderful way implicated. If, then, the same God who has
created such beings wills this also, what is to hinder the earthly body
from being raised to a heavenly body, since a spirit, which is more
excellent than all bodies, and consequently than even a heavenly body,
has been tied to an earthly body? If so small an earthly particle has
been able to hold in union with itself something better than a heavenly
body, so as to receive sensation and life, will heaven disdain to
receive, or at least to retain, this sentient and living particle,
which derives its life and sensation from a substance more excellent
than any heavenly body? If this does not happen now, it is because the
time is not yet come which has been determined by Him who has already
done a much more marvellous thing than that which these men refuse to
believe. For why do we not more intensely wonder that incorporeal
souls, which are of higher rank than heavenly bodies, are bound to
earthly bodies, rather than that bodies, although earthly, are exalted
to an abode which, though heavenly, is yet corporeal, except because we
have been accustomed to see this, and indeed are this, while we are not
as yet that other marvel, nor have as yet ever seen it? Certainly, if
we consult sober reason, the more wonderful of the two divine works is
found to be to attach somehow corporeal things to incorporeal, and not
to connect earthly things with heavenly, which, though diverse, are yet
both of them corporeal.

Chapter 3.–Of the Promise of Eternal Blessedness to the Saints, and Everlasting Punishment to the Wicked.

Wherefore, not to mention many other instances besides, as we now see
in Christ the fulfillment of that which God promised to Abraham when He
said, “In thy seed shall all nations be blessed,” [1608] so this also
shall be fulfilled which He promised to the same race, when He said by
the prophet, “They that are in their sepulchres shall rise again,”
[1609] and also, “There shall be a new heaven and a new earth: and the
former shall not be mentioned, nor come into mind; but they shall find
joy and rejoicing in it: for I will make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my
people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people,
and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her.” [1610] And
by another prophet He uttered the same prediction: “At that time thy
people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the
book. And many of them that sleep in the dust” (or, as some interpret
it, “in the mound”) “of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” [1611] And in
another place by the same prophet: “The saints of the Most High shall
take the kingdom, and shall possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever
and ever.” [1612] And a little after he says, “His kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom.” [1613] Other prophecies referring to the same
subject I have advanced in the twentieth book, and others still which I
have not advanced are found written in the same Scriptures; and these
predictions shall be fulfilled, as those also have been which
unbelieving men supposed would be frustrate. For it is the same God
who promised both, and predicted that both would come to pass,–the God
whom the pagan deities tremble before, as even Porphyry, the noblest of
pagan philosophers, testifies.

[1608] Gen. xxii. 18.

[1609] Isa. xxvi. 19.

[1610] Isa. lxv. 17-19.

[1611] Dan. xii. 1, 2.

[1612] Dan. vii. 18.

[1613] Dan. vii. 27.

Chapter 2.–Of the Eternal and Unchangeable Will of God.

It is true that wicked men do many things contrary to God’s will; but
so great is His wisdom and power, that all things which seem adverse to
His purpose do still tend towards those just and good ends and issues
which He Himself has foreknown. And consequently, when God is said to
change His will, as when, e.g., He becomes angry with those to whom He
was gentle, it is rather they than He who are changed, and they find
Him changed in so far as their experience of suffering at His hand is
new, as the sun is changed to injured eyes, and becomes as it were
fierce from being mild, and hurtful from being delightful, though in
itself it remains the same as it was. That also is called the will of
God which He does in the hearts of those who obey His commandments; and
of this the apostle says, “For it is God that worketh in you both to
will.” [1604] As God’s “righteousness” is used not only of the
righteousness wherewith He Himself is righteous, but also of that which
He produces in the man whom He justifies, so also that is called His
law, which, though given by God, is rather the law of men. For
certainly they were men to whom Jesus said, “It is written in your
law,” [1605] though in another place we read, “The law of his God is in
his heart.” [1606] According to this will which God works in men, He
is said also to will what He Himself does not will, but causes His
people to will; as He is said to know what He has caused those to know
who were ignorant of it. For when the apostle says, “But now, after
that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,” [1607] we cannot
suppose that God there for the first time knew those who were foreknown
by Him before the foundation of the world; but He is said to have known
them then, because then He caused them to know. But I remember that I
discussed these modes of expression in the preceding books. According
to this will, then, by which we say that God wills what He causes to be
willed by others, from whom the future is hidden, He wills many things
which He does not perform.

Thus His saints, inspired by His holy will, desire many things which
never happen. They pray, e.g., for certain individuals–they pray in a
pious and holy manner–but what they request He does not perform,
though He Himself by His own Holy Spirit has wrought in them this will
to pray. And consequently, when the saints, in conformity with God’s
mind, will and pray that all men be saved, we can use this mode of
expression: God wills and does not perform,–meaning that He who
causes them to will these things Himself wills them. But if we speak
of that will of His which is eternal as His foreknowledge, certainly He
has already done all things in heaven and on earth that He has
willed,–not only past and present things, but even things still
future. But before the arrival of that time in which He has willed the
occurrence of what He foreknew and arranged before all time, we say, It
will happen when God wills. But if we are ignorant not only of the
time in which it is to be, but even whether it shall be at all, we say,
It will happen if God wills,–not because God will then have a new will
which He had not before, but because that event, which from eternity
has been prepared in His unchangeable will, shall then come to pass.

[1604] Phil. ii. 13.

[1605] John viii. 17.

[1606] Ps. xxxvii. 31.

[1607] Gal. iv. 9.

Book XXII.

Argument–This book treats of the end of the city of God, that is to
say, of the eternal happiness of the saints; the faith of the
resurrection of the body is established and explained; and the work
concludes by showing how the saints, clothed in immortal and spiritual
bodies, shall be employed.

Chapter 1.–Of the Creation of Angels and Men.

As we promised in the immediately preceeding book, this, the last of the whole work, shall contain a discussion of the eternal blessedness of the city of God. This blessedness is named eternal, not because it shall endure for many ages, though at last it shall come to an end, but because, according to the words of the gospel, “of His kingdom there shall be no end.” [1603] Neither shall it enjoy the mere appearance of perpetuity which is maintained by the rise of fresh generations to occupy the place of those that have died out, as in an evergreen the same freshness seems to continue permanently, and the same appearance of dense foliage is preserved by the growth of fresh leaves in the room of those that have withered and fallen; but in that city all the citizens shall be immortal, men now for the first time enjoying what the holy angels have never lost. And this shall be accomplished by God, the most almighty Founder of the city. For He has promised it, and cannot lie, and has already performed many of His promises, and has done many unpromised kindnesses to those whom He now asks to believe that He will do this also.

For it is He who in the beginning created the world full of all visible and intelligible beings, among which He created nothing better than those spirits whom He endowed with intelligence, and made capable of contemplating and enjoying Him, and united in our society, which we call the holy and heavenly city, and in which the material of their sustenance and blessedness is God Himself, as it were their common food and nourishment. It is He who gave to this intellectual nature free-will of such a kind, that if he wished to forsake God, i.e., his blessedness, misery should forthwith result. It is He who, when He foreknew that certain angels would in their pride desire to suffice for their own blessedness, and would forsake their great good, did not deprive them of this power, deeming it to be more befitting His power and goodness to bring good out of evil than to prevent the evil from coming into existence. And indeed evil had never been, had not the mutable nature–mutable, though good, and created by the most high God and immutable Good, who created all things good–brought evil upon itself by sin. And this its sin is itself proof that its nature was originally good. For had it not been very good, though not equal to its Creator, the desertion of God as its light could not have been an evil to it. For as blindness is a vice of the eye, and this very fact indicates that the eye was created to see the light, and as, consequently, vice itself proves that the eye is more excellent than the other members, because it is capable of light (for on no other supposition would it be a vice of the eye to want light), so the nature which once enjoyed God teaches, even by its very vice, that it was created the best of all, since it is now miserable because it does not enjoy God. It is he who with very just punishment doomed the angels who voluntarily fell to everlasting misery, and rewarded those who continued in their attachment to the supreme good with the assurance of endless stability as the meed of their fidelity. It is He who made also man himself upright, with the same freedom of will,–an earthly animal, indeed, but fit for heaven if he remained faithful to his Creator, but destined to the misery appropriate to such a nature if he forsook Him. It is He who when He foreknew that man would in his turn sin by abandoning God and breaking His law, did not deprive him of the power of free-will, because He at the same time foresaw what good He Himself would bring out of the evil, and how from this mortal race, deservedly and justly condemned, He would by His grace collect, as now He does, a people so numerous, that He thus fills up and repairs the blank made by the fallen angels, and that thus that beloved and heavenly city is not defrauded of the full number of its citizens, but perhaps may even rejoice in a still more overflowing population.

[1603] Luke i. 33.

Chapter 27.–Against the Belief of Those Who Think that the Sins Which Have Been Accompanied with Almsgiving Will Do Them No Harm.

It remains to reply to those who maintain that those only shall burn in
eternal fire who neglect alms-deeds proportioned to their sins, resting
this opinion on the words of the Apostle James, “He shall have judgment
without mercy that hath showed no mercy.” [1582] Therefore, they say,
he that hath showed mercy, though he has not reformed his dissolute
conduct, but has lived wickedly and iniquitously even while abounding
in alms, shall have a merciful judgment, so that he shall either be not
condemned at all, or shall be delivered from final judgment after a
time. And for the same reason they suppose that Christ will
discriminate between those on the right hand and those on the left, and
will send the one party into His kingdom, the other into eternal
punishment, on the sole ground of their attention to or neglect of
works of charity. Moreover, they endeavor to use the prayer which the
Lord Himself taught as a proof and bulwark of their opinion, that daily
sins which are never abandoned can be expiated through alms-deeds, no
matter how offensive or of what sort they be. For, say they, as there
is no day on which Christians ought not to use this prayer, so there is
no sin of any kind which, though committed every day, is not remitted
when we say, “Forgive us our debts,” if we take care to fulfill what
follows, “as we forgive our debtors.” [1583] For, they go on to say,
the Lord does not say, “If ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will forgive you your little daily sins,” but “will
forgive you your sins.” Therefore, be they of any kind or magnitude
whatever, be they perpetrated daily and never abandoned or subdued in
this life, they can be pardoned, they presume, through alms-deeds.

But they are right to inculcate the giving of aims proportioned to past
sins; for if they said that any kind of alms could obtain the divine
pardon of great sins committed daily and with habitual enormity, if
they said that such sins could thus be daily remitted, they would see
that their doctrine was absurd and ridiculous. For they would thus be
driven to acknowledge that it were possible for a very wealthy man to
buy absolution from murders, adulteries, and all manner of wickedness,
by paying a daily alms of ten paltry coins. And if it be most absurd
and insane to make such an acknowledgment, and if we still ask what are
those fitting alms of which even the forerunner of Christ said, “Bring
forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” [1584] undoubtedly it will
be found that they are not such as are done by men who undermine their
life by daily enormities even to the very end. For they suppose that
by giving to the poor a small fraction of the wealth they acquire by
extortion and spoliation they can propitiate Christ, so that they may
with impunity commit the most damnable sins, in the persuasion that
they have bought from Him a license to transgress, or rather do buy a
daily indulgence. And if they for one crime have distributed all their
goods to Christ’s needy members, that could profit them nothing unless
they desisted from all similar actions, and attained charity which
worketh no evil He therefore who does alms-deeds proportioned to his
sins must first begin with himself. For it is not reasonable that a
man who exercises charity towards his neighbor should not do so towards
himself, since he hears the Lord saying, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself,” [1585] and again, “Have compassion on thy soul, and please
God.” [1586] He then who has not compassion on his own soul that he
may please God, how can he be said to do alms-deeds proportioned to his
sins? To the same purpose is that written, “He who is bad to himself,
to whom can he be good?” [1587] We ought therefore to do alms that we
may be heard when we pray that our past sins may be forgiven, not that
while we continue in them we may think to provide ourselves with a
license for wickedness by alms-deeds.

The reason, therefore, of our predicting that He will impute to those
on His right hand the alms-deeds they have done, and charge those on
His left with omitting the same, is that He may thus show the efficacy
of charity for the deletion of past sins, not for impunity in their
perpetual commission. And such persons, indeed, as decline to abandon
their evil habits of life for a better course cannot be said to do
charitable deeds. For this is the purport of the saying, “Inasmuch as
ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”
[1588] He shows them that they do not perform charitable actions even
when they think they are doing so. For if they gave bread to a
hungering Christian because he is a Christian, assuredly they would not
deny to themselves the bread of righteousness, that is, Christ Himself;
for God considers not the person to whom the gift is made, but the
spirit in which it is made. He therefore who loves Christ in a
Christian extends alms to him in the same spirit in which he draws near
to Christ, not in that spirit which would abandon Christ if it could do
so with impunity. For in proportion as a man loves what Christ
disapproves does he himself abandon Christ. For what does it profit a
man that he is baptized, if he is not justified? Did not He who said,
“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he shall not enter
into the kingdom of God,” [1589] say also, “Except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven?” [1590] Why do many through
fear of the first saying run to baptism, while few through fear of the
second seek to be justified? As therefore it is not to his brother a
man says, “Thou fool,” if when he says it he is indignant not at the
brotherhood, but at the sin of the offender,–for otherwise he were
guilty of hell fire,–so he who extends charity to a Christian does not
extend it to a Christian if he does not love Christ in him. Now he
does not love Christ who refuses to be justified in Him. Or, again, if
a man has been guilty of this sin of calling his brother Fool, unjustly
reviling him without any desire to remove his sin, his alms-deeds go a
small way towards expiating this fault, unless he adds to this the
remedy of reconciliation which the same passage enjoins. For it is
there said, “Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy
gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy
brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” [1591] Just so it is a
small matter to do alms-deeds, no matter how great they be, for any
sin, so long as the offender continues in the practice of sin.

Then as to the daily prayer which the Lord Himself taught, and which
is therefore called the Lord’s prayer, it obliterates indeed the sins
of the day, when day by day we say, “Forgive us our debts,” and when we
not only say but act out that which follows, “as we forgive our
debtors;” [1592] but we utter this petition because sins have been
committed, and not that they may be. For by it our Saviour designed to
teach us that, however righteously we live in this life of infirmity
and darkness, we still commit sins for the remission of which we ought
to pray, while we must pardon those who sin against us that we
ourselves also may be pardoned. The Lord then did not utter the words,
“If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Father will also forgive you
your trespasses,” [1593] in order that we might contract from this
petition such confidence as should enable us to sin securely from day
to day, either putting ourselves above the fear of human laws, or
craftily deceiving men concerning our conduct, but in order that we
might thus learn not to suppose that we are without sins, even though
we should be free from crimes; as also God admonished the priests of
the old law to this same effect regarding their sacrifices, which He
commanded them to offer first for their own sins, and then for the sins
of the people. For even the very words of so great a Master and Lord
are to be intently considered. For He does not say, If ye forgive men
their sins, your Father will also forgive you your sins, no matter of
what sort they be, but He says, your sins; for it was a daily prayer He
was teaching, and it was certainly to disciples already justified He
was speaking. What, then, does He mean by “your sins,” but those sins
from which not even you who are justified and sanctified can be free?
While, then, those who seek occasion from this petition to indulge in
habitual sin maintain that the Lord meant to include great sins,
because He did not say, He will forgive you your small sins, but “your
sins,” we, on the other hand, taking into account the character of the
persons He was addressing, cannot see our way to interpret the
expression “your sins” of anything but small sins, because such persons
are no longer guilty of great sins. Nevertheless not even great sins
themselves–sins from which we must flee with a total reformation of
life–are forgiven to those who pray, unless they observe the appended
precept, “as ye also forgive your debtors.” For if the very small sins
which attach even to the life of the righteous be not remitted without
that condition, how much further from obtaining indulgence shall those
be who are involved in many great crimes, if, while they cease from
perpetrating such enormities, they still inexorably refuse to remit any
debt incurred to themselves, since the Lord says, “But if ye forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses?” [1594] For this is the purport of the saying of the
Apostle James also, “He shall have judgment without mercy that hath
showed no mercy.” [1595] For we should remember that servant whose
debt of ten thousand talents his lord cancelled, but afterwards ordered
him to pay up, because the servant himself had no pity for his
fellow-servant, who owed him an hundred pence. [1596] The words which
the Apostle James subjoins,”And mercy rejoiceth against judgment,”
[1597] find their application among those who are the children of the
promise and vessels of mercy. For even those righteous men, who have
lived with such holiness that they receive into the eternal habitations
others also who have won their friendship with the mammon of
unrighteousness, [1598] became such only through the merciful
deliverance of Him who justifies the ungodly, imputing to him a reward
according to grace, not according to debt. For among this number is
the apostle, who says, “I obtained mercy to be faithful.” [1599]

But it must be admitted, that those who are thus received into the
eternal habitations are not of such a character that their own life
would suffice to rescue them without the aid of the saints, and
consequently in their case especially does mercy rejoice against
judgment. And yet we are not on this account to suppose that every
abandoned profligate, who has made no amendment of his life, is to be
received into the eternal habitations if only he has assisted the
saints with the mammon of unrighteousness,–that is to say, with money
or wealth which has been unjustly acquired, or, if rightfully acquired,
is yet not the true riches, but only what iniquity counts riches,
because it knows not the true riches in which those persons abound, who
even receive others also into eternal habitations. There is then a
certain kind of life, which is neither, on the one hand, so bad that
those who adopt it are not helped towards the kingdom of heaven by any
bountiful alms-giving by which they may relieve the wants of the
saints, and make friends who could receive them into eternal
habitations, nor, on the other hand, so good that it of itself suffices
to win for them that great blessedness, if they do not obtain mercy
through the merits of those whom they have made their friends. And I
frequently wonder that even Virgil should give expression to this
sentence of the Lord, in which He says, “Make to yourselves friends of
the mammon of unrighteousness, that they may receive you into
everlasting habitations;” [1600] and this very similar saying, “He that
receiveth a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall receive a
prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of
a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” [1601] For
when that poet described the Elysian fields, in which they suppose that
the souls of the blessed dwell, he placed there not only those who had
been able by their own merit to reach that abode, but added,–

“And they who grateful memory won

By services to others done;” [1602]

that is, they who had served others, and thereby merited to be
remembered by them. Just as if they used the expression so common in
Christian lips, where some humble person commends himself to one of the
saints, and says, Remember me, and secures that he do so by deserving
well at his hand. But what that kind of life we have been speaking of
is, and what those sins are which prevent a man from winning the
kingdom of God by himself, but yet permit him to avail himself of the
merits of the saints, it is very difficult to ascertain, very perilous
to define. For my own part, in spite of all investigation, I have been
up to the present hour unable to discover this. And possibly it is
hidden from us, lest we should become careless in avoiding such sins,
and so cease to make progress. For if it were known what these sins
are which, though they continue, and be not abandoned for a higher
life, do yet not prevent us from seeking and hoping for the
intercession of the saints, human sloth would presumptuously wrap
itself in these sins, and would take no steps to be disentangled from
such wrappings by the deft energy of any virtue, but would only desire
to be rescued by the merits of other people, whose friendship had been
won by a bountiful use of the mammon of unrighteousness. But now that
we are left in ignorance of the precise nature of that iniquity which
is venial, even though it be persevered in, certainly we are both more
vigilant in our prayers and efforts for progress, and more careful to
secure with the mammon of unrighteousness friends for ourselves among
the saints.

But this deliverance, which is effected by one’s own prayers, or the
intercession of holy men, secures that a man be not cast into eternal
fire, but not that, when once he has been cast into it, he should after
a time be rescued from it. For even those who fancy that what is said
of the good ground bringing forth abundant fruit, some thirty, some
sixty, some an hundred fold, is to be referred to the saints, so that
in proportion to their merits some of them shall deliver thirty men,
some sixty, some an hundred,–even those who maintain this are yet
commonly inclined to suppose that this deliverance will take place at,
and not after the day of judgment. Under this impression, some one who
observed the unseemly folly with which men promise themselves impunity
on the ground that all will be included in this method of deliverance,
is reported to have very happily remarked, that we should rather
endeavor to live so well that we shall be all found among the number of
those who are to intercede for the liberation of others, lest these
should be so few in number, that, after they have delivered one thirty,
another sixty, another a hundred, there should still remain many who
could not be delivered from punishment by their intercessions, and
among them every one who has vainly and rashly promised himself the
fruit of another’s labor. But enough has been said in reply to those
who acknowledge the authority of the same sacred Scriptures as
ourselves, but who, by a mistaken interpretation of them, conceive of
the future rather as they themselves wish, than as the Scriptures
teach. And having given this reply, I now, according to promise, close
this book.

[1582] Jas. ii. 13.

[1583] Matt. vi. 12.

[1584] Matt. iii. 8.

[1585] Matt. xxii. 39.

[1586] Ecclus. xxx. 24.

[1587] Ecclus. xxi. 1.

[1588] Matt. xxv. 45.

[1589] John iii. 5.

[1590] Matt. v. 20.

[1591] Matt. v. 23, 24.

[1592] Matt. vi. 12.

[1593] Matt. vi. 14.

[1594] Matt. vi. 15.

[1595] Jas. ii. 13.

[1596] Matt. xviii. 23.

[1597] Jas. ii. 13.

[1598] Luke xvi. 9.

[1599] 1 Cor. vii. 25.

[1600] Luke xvi. 9.

[1601] Matt. x. 41.

[1602] Aen.vi. 664.

Chapter 26.–What It is to Have Christ for a Foundation, and Who They are to Whom Salvation as by Fire is Promised.

But, say they, the catholic Christians have Christ for a foundation,
and they have not fallen away from union with Him, no matter how
depraved a life they have built on this foundation, as wood, hay,
stubble; and accordingly the well-directed faith by which Christ is
their foundation will suffice to deliver them some time from the
continuance of that fire, though it be with loss, since those things
they have built on it shall be burned. Let the Apostle James summarily
reply to them: “If any man say he has faith, and have not works, can
faith save him?” [1571] And who then is it, they ask, of whom the
Apostle Paul says, “But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire?”
[1572] Let us join them in their inquiry; and one thing is very
certain, that it is not he of whom James speaks, else we should make
the two apostles contradict one another, if the one says, “Though a
man’s works be evil, his faith will save him as by fire,” while the
other says, “If he have not good works, can his faith save him?”

We shall then ascertain who it is who can be saved by fire, if we first
discover what it is to have Christ for a foundation. And this we may
very readily learn from the image itself. In a building the foundation
is first. Whoever, then, has Christ in his heart, so that no earthly
or temporal things–not even those that are legitimate and allowed–are
preferred to Him, has Christ as a foundation. But if these things be
preferred, then even though a man seem to have faith in Christ, yet
Christ is not the foundation to that man; and much more if he, in
contempt of wholesome precepts, seek forbidden gratifications, is he
clearly convicted of putting Christ not first but last, since he has
despised Him as his ruler, and has preferred to fulfill his own wicked
lusts, in contempt of Christ’s commands and allowances. Accordingly,
if any Christian man loves a harlot, and, attaching himself to her,
becomes one body, he has not now Christ for a foundation. But if any
one loves his own wife, and loves her as Christ would have him love
her, who can doubt that he has Christ for a foundation? But if he
loves her in the world’s fashion, carnally, as the disease of lust
prompts him, and as the Gentiles love who know not God, even this the
apostle, or rather Christ by the apostle, allows as a venial fault.
And therefore even such a man may have Christ for a foundation. For so
long as he does not prefer such an affection or pleasure to Christ,
Christ is his foundation, though on it he builds wood, hay, stubble;
and therefore he shall be saved as by fire. For the fire of affliction
shall burn such luxurious pleasures and earthly loves, though they be
not damnable, because enjoyed in lawful wedlock. And of this fire the
fuel is bereavement, and all those calamities which consume these
joys. Consequently the superstructure will be loss to him who has
built it, for he shall not retain it, but shall be agonized by the loss
of those things in the enjoyment of which he found pleasure. But by
this fire he shall be saved through virtue of the foundation, because
even if a persecutor demanded whether he would retain Christ or these
things, he would prefer Christ. Would you hear, in the apostle’s own
words, who he is who builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious
stones? “He that is unmarried,” he says, “careth for the things that
belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord.” [1573] Would you
hear who he is that buildeth wood, hay, stubble? “But he that is
married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please
his wife. [1574] “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the
day shall declare it,”–the day, no doubt, of tribulation–”because,”
says he, “it shall be revealed by fire.” [1575] He calls tribulation
fire, just as it is elsewhere said, “The furnace proves the vessels of
the potter, and the trial of affliction righteous men.” [1576] And
“The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s
work abide”–for a man’s care for the things of the Lord, how he may
please the Lord, abides–”which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward,”–that is, he shall reap the fruit of his care. “But
if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,”–for what he
loved he shall not retain:–” but he himself shall be saved,”–for no
tribulation shall have moved him from that stable foundation,–”yet so
as by fire;” [1577] for that which he possessed with the sweetness of
love he does not lose without the sharp sting of pain. Here, then, as
seems to me, we have a fire which destroys neither, but enriches the
one, brings loss to the other, proves both.

But if this passage [of Corinthians] is to interpret that fire of which
the Lord shall say to those on His left hand, “Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire,” [1578] so that among these we are to
believe there are those who build on the foundation wood, hay, stubble,
and that they, through virtue of the good foundation, shall after a
time be liberated from the fire that is the award of their evil
deserts, what then shall we think of those on the right hand, to whom
it shall be said, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you,” [1579] unless that they are those who have built on
the foundation gold, silver, precious stones? But if the fire of which
our Lord speaks is the same as that of which the apostle says, “Yet so
as by fire,” then both–that is to say, both those on the right as well
as those on the left–are to be cast into it. For that fire is to try
both, since it is said, “For the day of the Lord shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every
man’s work of what sort it is.” [1580] If, therefore, the fire shall
try both, in order that if any man’s work abide–i.e., if the
superstructure be not consumed by the fire–he may receive a reward,
and that if his work is burned he may suffer loss, certainly that fire
is not the eternal fire itself. For into this latter fire only those
on the left hand shall be cast, and that with final and everlasting
doom; but that former fire proves those on the right hand. But some of
them it so proves that it does not burn and consume the structure which
is found to have been built by them on Christ as the foundation; while
others of them it proves in another fashion, so as to burn what they
have built up, and thus cause them to suffer loss, while they
themselves are saved because they have retained Christ, who was laid as
their sure foundation, and have loved Him above all. But if they are
saved, then certainly they shall stand at the right hand, and shall
with the rest hear the sentence, “Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you;” and not at the left hand, where
those shall be who shall not be saved, and shall therefore hear the
doom, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” For from
that fire no man shall be saved, because they all shall go away into
eternal punishment, where their worms shall not die, nor their fire be
quenched, in which they shall be tormented day and night for ever.

But if it be said that in the interval of time between the death of
this body and that last day of judgment and retribution which shall
follow the resurrection, the bodies of the dead shall be exposed to a
fire of such a nature that it shall not affect those who have not in
this life indulged in such pleasures and pursuits as shall be consumed
like wood, hay, stubble, but shall affect those others who have carried
with them structures of that kind; if it be said that such worldliness,
being venial, shall be consumed in the fire of tribulation either here
only, or here and hereafter both, or here that it may not be
hereafter,–this I do not contradict, because possibly it is true. For
perhaps even the death of the body is itself a part of this
tribulation, for it results from the first transgression, so that the
time which follows death takes its color in each case from the nature
of the man’s building. The persecutions, too, which have crowned the
martyrs, and which Christians of all kinds suffer, try both buildings
like a fire, consuming some, along with the builders themselves, if
Christ is not found in them as their foundation, while others they
consume without the builders, because Christ is found in them, and they
are saved, though with loss; and other buildings still they do not
consume, because such materials as abide for ever are found in them.
In the end of the world there shall be in the time of Antichrist
tribulation such as has never before been. How many edifices there
shall then be, of gold or of hay, built on the best foundation, Christ
Jesus, which that fire shall prove, bringing joy to some, loss to
others, but without destroying either sort, because of this stable
foundation! But whosoever prefers, I do not say his wife, with whom he
lives for carnal pleasure, but any of those relatives who afford no
delight of such a kind, and whom it is right to love,–whosoever
prefers these to Christ, and loves them after a human and carnal
fashion, has not Christ as a foundation, and will therefore not be
saved by fire, nor indeed at all; for he shall not possibly dwell with
the Saviour, who says very explicitly concerning this very matter, “He
that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he
that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” [1581]
But he who loves his relations carnally, and yet so that he does not
prefer them to Christ, but would rather want them than Christ if he
were put to the proof, shall be saved by fire, because it is necessary
that by the loss of these relations he suffer pain in proportion to his
love. And he who loves father, mother, sons, daughters, according to
Christ, so that he aids them in obtaining His kingdom and cleaving to
Him, or loves them because they are members of Christ, God forbid that
this love should be consumed as wood, hay, stubble, and not rather be
reckoned a structure of gold, silver, precious stones. For how can a
man love those more than Christ whom he loves only for Christ’s sake?

[1571] Jas. ii. 14.

[1572] 1 Cor. iii. 15. [This is the chief passage quoted in favor of
purgatory. See note on p. 470. The Apostle uses a figurative term for
narrow escape from perdition.--P.S.]

[1573] 1 Cor. vii. 32.

[1574] 1 Cor. vii. 33.

[1575] 1 Cor. iii. 13.

[1576] Ecclus. xxvii. 5.

[1577] 1 Cor. iii. 14, 15.

[1578] Matt. xxv. 41.

[1579] Matt. xxv. 34.

[1580] 1 Cor. iii. 13.

[1581] Matt. x. 37.

Chapter 25.–Whether Those Who Received Heretical Baptism, and Have Afterwards Fallen Away to Wickedness of Life; Or Those Who Have Received Catholic Baptism, But Have Afterwards Passed Over to Heresy and Schism; Or Those Who Have Remained in the Catholic Church in Which They Were Baptized, But Have Continued to Live Immorally,–May Hope Through the Virtue of the Sacraments for the Remission of Eternal Punishment.

But let us now reply to those who promise deliverance from eternal
fire, not to the devil and his angels (as neither do they of whom we
have been speaking), nor even to all men whatever, but only to those
who have been washed by the baptism of Christ, and have become
partakers of His body and blood, no matter how they have lived, no
matter what heresy or impiety they have fallen into. But they are
contradicted by the apostle, where he says, “Now the works of the flesh
are manifest, which are these; fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variances, emulations,
wrath, strife, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and the
like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, for they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God.” [1565] Certainly this sentence of the apostle is false, if such
persons shall be delivered after any lapse of time, and shall then
inherit the kingdom of God. But as it is not false, they shall
certainly never inherit the kingdom of God. And if they shall never
enter that kingdom, then they shall always be retained in eternal
punishment; for there is no middle place where he may live unpunished
who has not been admitted into that kingdom.

And therefore we may reasonably inquire how we are to understand these
words of the Lord Jesus: “This is the bread which cometh down from
heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall
live for ever.” [1566] And those, indeed, whom we are now answering,
are refuted in their interpretation of this passage by those whom we
are shortly to answer, and who do not promise this deliverance to all
who have received the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s body, but
only to the catholics, however wickedly they live; for these, say they,
have eaten the Lord’s body not only sacramentally, but really, being
constituted members of His body, of which the apostle says, “We being
many are one bread, one body.” [1567] He then who is in the unity of
Christ’s body (that is to say, in the Christian membership), of which
body the faithful have been wont to receive the sacrament at the altar,
that man is truly said to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ.
And consequently heretics and schismatics being separate from the unity
of this body, are able to receive the same sacrament, but with no
profit to themselves,–nay, rather to their own hurt, so that they are
rather more severely judged than liberated after some time. For they
are not in that bond of peace which is symbolized by that sacrament.

But again, even those who sufficiently understand that he who is not in
the body of Christ cannot be said to eat the body of Christ, are in
error when they promise liberation from the fire of eternal punishment
to persons who fall away from the unity of that body into heresy, or
even into heathenish superstition. For, in the first place, they ought
to consider how intolerable it is, and how discordant with sound
doctrine, to suppose that many, indeed, or almost all, who have
forsaken the Church catholic, and have originated impious heresies and
become heresiarchs, should enjoy a destiny superior to those who never
were catholics, but have fallen into the snares of these others; that
is to say, if the fact of their catholic baptism and original reception
of the sacrament of the body of Christ in the true body of Christ is
sufficient to deliver these heresiarchs from eternal punishment. For
certainly he who deserts the faith, and from a deserter becomes an
assailant, is worse than he who has not deserted the faith he never
held. And, in the second place, they are contradicted by the apostle,
who, after enumerating the works of the flesh, says with reference to
heresies, “They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God.”

And therefore neither ought such persons as lead an abandoned and
damnable life to be confident of salvation, though they persevere to
the end in the communion of the Church catholic, and comfort themselves
with the words, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” By the
iniquity of their life they abandon that very righteousness of life
which Christ is to them, whether it be by fornication, or by
perpetrating in their body the other uncleannesses which the apostle
would not so much as mention, or by a dissolute luxury, or by doing any
one of those things of which he says, “They who do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.” Consequently, they who do such things
shall not exist anywhere but in eternal punishment, since they cannot
be in the kingdom of God. For, while they continue in such things to
the very end of life, they cannot be said to abide in Christ to the
end; for to abide in Him is to abide in the faith of Christ. And this
faith, according to the apostle’s definition of it, “worketh by love.”
[1568] And “love,” as he elsewhere says, “worketh no evil.” [1569]
Neither can these persons be said to eat the body of Christ, for they
cannot even be reckoned among His members. For, not to mention other
reasons, they cannot be at once the members of Christ and the members
of a harlot. In fine, He Himself, when He says, “He that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,” [1570]
shows what it is in reality, and not sacramentally, to eat His body and
drink His blood; for this is to dwell in Christ, that He also may dwell
in us. So that it is as if He said, He that dwelleth not in me, and in
whom I do not dwell, let him not say or think that he eateth my body or
drinketh my blood. Accordingly, they who are not Christ’s members do
not dwell in Him. And they who make themselves members of a harlot,
are not members of Christ unless they have penitently abandoned that
evil, and have returned to this good to be reconciled to it.

[1565] Gal. v. 19-21.

[1566] John vi. 50, 51.

[1567] 1 Cor. x. 17.

[1568] Gal. v. 6.

[1569] Rom. xiii. 10.

[1570] John vi. 56.

Chapter 24.–Against Those Who Fancy that in the Judgment of God All the Accused Will Be Spared in Virtue of the Prayers of the Saints.

And this reasoning is equally conclusive against those who, in their
own interest, but under the guise of a greater tenderness of spirit,
attempt to invalidate the words of God, and who assert that these words
are true, not because men shall suffer those things which are
threatened by God, but because they deserve to suffer them. For God,
they say, will yield them to the prayers of His saints, who will then
the more earnestly pray for their enemies, as they shall be more
perfect in holiness, and whose prayers will be the more efficacious and
the more worthy of God’s ear, because now purged from all sin
whatsoever. Why, then, if in that perfected holiness their prayers be
so pure and all-availing, will they not use them in behalf of the
angels for whom eternal fire is prepared, that God may mitigate His
sentence and alter it, and extricate them from that fire? Or will
there, perhaps, be some one hardy enough to affirm that even the holy
angels will make common cause with holy men (then become the equals of
God’s angels), and will intercede for the guilty, both men and angels,
that mercy may spare them the punishment which truth has pronounced
them to deserve? But this has been asserted by no one sound in the
faith; nor will be. Otherwise there is no reason why the Church should
not even now pray for the devil and his angels, since God her Master
has ordered her to pray for her enemies. The reason, then, which
prevents the Church from now praying for the wicked angels, whom she
knows to be her enemies, is the identical reason which shall prevent
her, however perfected in holiness, from praying at the last judgment
for those men who are to be punished in eternal fire. At present she
prays for her enemies among men, because they have yet opportunity for
fruitful repentance. For what does she especially beg for them but
that “God would grant them repentance,” as the apostle says, “that they
may return to soberness out of the snare of the devil, by whom they are
held captive according to his will?” [1546] But if the Church were
certified who those are, who, though they are still abiding in this
life, are yet predestinated to go with the devil into eternal fire,
then for them she could no more pray than for him. But since she has
this certainty regarding no man, she prays for all her enemies who yet
live in this world; and yet she is not heard in behalf of all. But she
is heard in the case of those only who, though they oppose the Church,
are yet predestinated to become her sons through her intercession. But
if any retain an impenitent heart until death, and are not converted
from enemies into sons, does the Church continue to pray for them, for
the spirits, i.e., of such persons deceased? And why does she cease to
pray for them, unless because the man who was not translated into
Christ’s kingdom while he was in the body, is now judged to be of
Satan’s following?

It is then, I say, the same reason which prevents the Church at any
time from praying for the wicked angels, which prevents her from
praying hereafter for those men who are to be punished in eternal fire;
and this also is the reason why, though she prays even for the wicked
so long as they live, she yet does not even in this world pray for the
unbelieving and godless who are dead. For some of the dead, indeed,
the prayer of the Church or of pious individuals is heard; but it is
for those who, having been regenerated in Christ, did not spend their
life so wickedly that they can be judged unworthy of such compassion,
nor so well that they can be considered to have no need of it. [1547]
As also, after the resurrection, there will be some of the dead to
whom, after they have endured the pains proper to the spirits of the
dead, mercy shall be accorded, and acquittal from the punishment of the
eternal fire. For were there not some whose sins, though not remitted
in this life, shall be remitted in that which is to come, it could not
be truly said, “They shall not be forgiven, neither in this world,
neither in that which is to come.” [1548] But when the Judge of quick
and dead has said, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” and to those on the
other side, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire, which is
prepared for the devil and his angels,” and “These shall go away into
eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,” [1549] it
were excessively presumptuous to say that the punishment of any of
those whom God has said shall go away into eternal punishment shall not
be eternal, and so bring either despair or doubt upon the corresponding
promise of life eternal.

Let no man then so understand the words of the Psalmist, “Shall God
forget to be gracious? shall He shut up in His anger His tender
mercies” [1550] as if the sentence of God were true of good men, false
of bad men, or true of good men and wicked angels, but false of bad
men. For the Psalmist’s words refer to the vessels of mercy and the
children of the promise, of whom the prophet himself was one; for when
he had said, “Shall God forget to be gracious? shall He shut up in His
anger His tender mercies?” and then immediately subjoins, “And I said,
Now I begin: this is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most
High,” [1551] he manifestly explained what he meant by the words,
“Shall he shut up in His anger His tender mercies?” For God’s anger is
this mortal life, in which man is made like to vanity, and his days
pass as a shadow. [1552] Yet in this anger God does not forget to be
gracious, causing His sun to shine and His rain to descend on the just
and the unjust; [1553] and thus He does not in His anger cut short His
tender mercies, and especially in what the Psalmist speaks of in the
words, “Now I begin: this change is from the right hand of the Most
High;” for He changes for the better the vessels of mercy, even while
they are still in this most wretched life, which is God’s anger, and
even while His anger is manifesting itself in this miserable
corruption; for “in His anger He does not shut up His tender mercies.”
And since the truth of this divine canticle is quite satisfied by this
application of it, there is no need to give it a reference to that
place in which those who do not belong to the city of God are punished
in eternal fire. But if any persist in extending its application to
the torments of the wicked, let them at least understand it so that the
anger of God, which has threatened the wicked with eternal punishment,
shall abide, but shall be mixed with mercy to the extent of alleviating
the torments which might justly be inflicted; so that the wicked shall
neither wholly escape, nor only for a time endure these threatened
pains, but that they shall be less severe and more endurable than they
deserve. Thus the anger of God shall continue, and at the same time He
will not in this anger shut up His tender mercies. But even this
hypothesis I am not to be supposed to affirm because I do not
positively oppose it. [1554]

As for those who find an empty threat rather than a truth in such
passages as these: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire;”
and “These shall go away into eternal punishment;” [1555] and “They
shall be tormented for ever and ever;” [1556] and “Their worm shall not
die, and their fire shall not be quenched,” [1557] –such persons, I
say, are most emphatically and abundantly refuted, not by me so much as
by the divine Scripture itself. For the men of Nineveh repented in
this life, and therefore their repentance was fruitful, inasmuch as
they sowed in that field which the Lord meant to be sown in tears that
it might afterwards be reaped in joy. And yet who will deny that God’s
prediction was fulfilled in their case, if at least he observes that
God destroys sinners not only in anger but also in compassion? For
sinners are destroyed in two ways,–either, like the Sodomites, the men
themselves are punished for their sins, or, like the Ninevites, the
men’s sins are destroyed by repentance. God’s prediction, therefore,
was fulfilled,–the wicked Nineveh was overthrown, and a good Nineveh
built up. For its walls and houses remained standing; the city was
overthrown in its depraved manners. And thus, though the prophet was
provoked that the destruction which the inhabitants dreaded, because of
his prediction, did not take place, yet that which God’s foreknowledge
had predicted did take place, for He who foretold the destruction knew
how it should be fulfilled in a less calamitous sense.

But that these perversely compassionate persons may see what is the
purport of these words, “How great is the abundance of Thy sweetness,
Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee,” [1558] let them
read what follows: “And Thou hast perfected it for them that hope in
Thee.” For what means, “Thou hast hidden it for them that fear Thee,”
“Thou hast perfected it for them that hope in Thee,” unless this, that
to those who through fear of punishment seek to establish their own
righteousness by the law, the righteousness of God is not sweet,
because they are ignorant of it? They have not tasted it. For they
hope in themselves, not in Him; and therefore God’s abundant sweetness
is hidden from them. They fear God, indeed, but it is with that
servile fear “which is not in love; for perfect love casteth out fear.”
[1559] Therefore to them that hope in Him He perfecteth His
sweetness, inspiring them with His own love, so that with a holy fear,
which love does not cast out, but which endureth for ever, they may,
when they glory, glory in the Lord. For the righteousness of God is
Christ, “who is of God made unto us,” as the apostle says, “wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” [1560] This
righteousness of God, which is the gift of grace without merits, is not
known by those who go about to establish their own righteousness, and
are therefore not subject to the righteousness of God, which is Christ.
[1561] But it is in this righteousness that we find the great
abundance of God’s sweetness, of which the psalm says, “Taste and see
how sweet the Lord is.” [1562] And this we rather taste than partake
of to satiety in this our pilgrimage. We hunger and thirst for it now,
that hereafter we may be satisfied with it when we see Him as He is,
and that is fulfilled which is written, “I shall be satisfied when Thy
glory shall be manifested.” [1563] It is thus that Christ perfects
the great abundance of His sweetness to them that hope in Him. But if
God conceals His sweetness from them that fear Him in the sense that
these our objectors fancy, so that men’s ignorance of His purpose of
mercy towards the wicked may lead them to fear Him and live better, and
so that there may be prayer made for those who are not living as they
ought, how then does He perfect His sweetness to them that hope in Him,
since, if their dreams be true, it is this very sweetness which will
prevent Him from punishing those who do not hope in Him? Let us then
seek that sweetness of His, which He perfects to them that hope in Him,
not that which He is supposed to perfect to those who despise and
blaspheme Him; for in vain, after this life, does a man seek for what
he has neglected to provide while in this life.

Then, as to that saying of the apostle, “For God hath concluded all in
unbelief, that He may have mercy upon all,” [1564] it does not mean
that He will condemn no one; but the foregoing context shows what is
meant. The apostle composed the epistle for the Gentiles who were
already believers; and when he was speaking to them of the Jews who
were yet to believe, he says, “For as ye in times past believed not
God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have
these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may
obtain mercy.” Then he added the words in question with which these
persons beguile themselves: “For God concluded all in unbelief, that
He might have mercy upon all.” All whom, if not all those of whom he
was speaking, just as if he had said, “Both you and them?” God then
concluded all those in unbelief, both Jews and Gentiles, whom He
foreknew and predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, in
order that they might be confounded by the bitterness of unbelief, and
might repent and believingly turn to the sweetness of God’s mercy, and
might take up that exclamation of the psalm, “How great is the
abundance of Thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them
that fear Thee, but hast perfected to them that hope,” not in
themselves, but “in Thee.” He has mercy, then, on all the vessels of
mercy. And what means “all?” Both those of the Gentiles and those of
the Jews whom He predestinated, called, justified, glorified: none of
these will be condemned by Him; but we cannot say none of all men
whatever.

[1546] 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.

[1547] [This contains the germ of the doctrine of purgatory, which was
afterwards more fully developed by Pope Gregory I., and adopted by the
Roman church, but rejected by the Reformers, as unfounded in Scripture,
though Matt. xii. 32, and 1 Cor. iii. 15, are quoted in support of
it.--P.S.]

[1548] Matt. xii. 32.

[1549] Matt. xxv. 34, 41, 46.

[1550] Ps. lxxvii. 9.

[1551] Ps. lxxvii. 10.

[1552] Ps. cxliv. 4.

[1553] Matt. v. 45.

[1554] It is the theory which Chrysostom adopts.

[1555] Matt. xxv. 41, 46.

[1556] Rev. xx. 10.

[1557] Isa. lxvi. 24.

[1558] Ps. xxxi. 19.

[1559] 1 John iv. 18.

[1560] 1 Cor. i. 30, 31.

[1561] Rom. x. 3.

[1562] Ps. xxxiv. 8.

[1563] Ps. xvii. 15.

[1564] Rom. xi. 32.

Chapter 23.–Against Those Who are of Opinion that the Punishment Neither of the Devil Nor of Wicked Men Shall Be Eternal.

First of all, it behoves us to inquire and to recognize why the Church
has not been able to tolerate the idea that promises cleansing or
indulgence to the devil even after the most severe and protracted
punishment. For so many holy men, imbued with the spirit of the Old
and New Testament, did not grudge to angels of any rank or character
that they should enjoy the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom after
being cleansed by suffering, but rather they perceived that they could
not invalidate nor evacuate the divine sentence which the Lord
predicted that He would pronounce in the judgment, saying, “Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels.” [1541] For here it is evident that the devil and his angels
shall burn in everlasting fire. And there is also that declaration in
the Apocalypse, “The devil their deceiver was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where also are the beast and the false prophet.
And they shall be tormented day and night for ever.” [1542] In the
former passage “everlasting” is used, in the latter “for ever;” and by
these words Scripture is wont to mean nothing else than endless
duration. And therefore no other reason, no reason more obvious and
just, can be found for holding it as the fixed and immovable belief of
the truest piety, that the devil and his angels shall never return to
the justice and life of the saints, than that Scripture, which deceives
no man, says that God spared them not, and that they were condemned
beforehand by Him, and cast into prisons of darkness in hell, [1543]
being reserved to the judgment of the last day, when eternal fire shall
receive them, in which they shall be tormented world without end. And
if this be so, how can it be believed that all men, or even some, shall
be withdrawn from the endurance of punishment after some time has been
spent in it? how can this be believed without enervating our faith in
the eternal punishment of the devils? For if all or some of those to
whom it shall be said, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” [1544] are not to be
always in that fire, then what reason is there for believing that the
devil and his angels shall always be there? Or is perhaps the sentence
of God, which is to be pronounced on wicked men and angels alike, to be
true in the case of the angels, false in that of men? Plainly it will
be so if the conjectures of men are to weigh more than the word of
God. But because this is absurd, they who desire to be rid of eternal
punishment ought to abstain from arguing against God, and rather, while
yet there is opportunity, obey the divine commands. Then what a fond
fancy is it to suppose that eternal punishment means long continued
punishment, while eternal life means life without end, since Christ in
the very same passage spoke of both in similar terms in one and the
same sentence, “These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into life eternal!” [1545] If both destinies are “eternal,”
then we must either understand both as long-continued but at last
terminating, or both as endless. For they are correlative,–on the one
hand, punishment eternal, on the other hand, life eternal. And to say
in one and the same sense, life eternal shall be endless, punishment
eternal shall come to an end, is the height of absurdity. Wherefore,
as the eternal life of the saints shall be endless, so too the eternal
punishment of those who are doomed to it shall have no end.

[1541] Matt. xxv. 41.

[1542] Rev. xx. 10.

[1543] 2 Pet. ii. 4.

[1544] Matt. xxv. 41.

[1545] Matt. xxv. 46.

Chapter 22.–Of Those Who Fancy that the Sins Which are Intermingled with Alms-Deeds Shall Not Be Charged at the Day of Judgment.

I have also met with some who are of opinion that such only as neglect
to cover their sins with alms-deeds shall be punished in everlasting
fire; and they cite the words of the Apostle James, “He shall have
judgment without mercy who hath shown no mercy.” [1537] Therefore,
say they, he who has not amended his ways, but yet has intermingled his
profligate and wicked actions with works of mercy, shall receive mercy
in the judgment, so that he shall either quite escape condemnation, or
shall be liberated from his doom after some time shorter or longer.
They suppose that this was the reason why the Judge Himself of quick
and dead declined to mention anything else than works of mercy done or
omitted, when awarding to those on His right hand life eternal, and to
those on His left everlasting punishment. [1538] To the same purpose,
they say, is the daily petition we make in the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” [1539] For, no doubt,
whoever pardons the person who has wronged him does a charitable
action. And this has been so highly commended by the Lord Himself,
that He says, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” [1540]
And so it is to this kind of alms-deeds that the saying of the Apostle
James refers, “He shall have judgment without mercy that hath shown no
mercy.” And our Lord, they say, made no distinction of great and small
sins, but “Your Father will forgive your sins, if ye forgive men
theirs.” Consequently they conclude that, though a man has led an
abandoned life up to the last day of it, yet whatsoever his sins have
been, they are all remitted by virtue of this daily prayer, if only he
has been mindful to attend to this one thing, that when they who have
done him any injury ask his pardon, he forgive them from his heart.

When, by God’s help, I have replied to all these errors, I shall
conclude this (twenty-first) book.

[1537] Jas. ii. 13.

[1538] Matt. xxv. 33.

[1539] Matt. vi. 12.

[1540] Matt. vi. 14, 15.