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| On the End of the World.
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Chapter
VI.—On the End of the World.
1. Now, respecting the end of the world and
the consummation of all things, we have stated in the preceding pages,
to the best of our ability, so far as the authority of holy Scripture
enabled us, what we deem sufficient for purposes of instruction; and we
shall here only add a few admonitory remarks, since the order of
investigation has brought us back to the subject. The highest
good, then, after the attainment of which the whole of rational nature
is seeking, which is also called the end of all blessings,2671
| 2671 Finis omnium:
“bonorum” understood. | is defined by many philosophers as
follows: The highest good, they say, is to become as like to God
as possible. But this definition I regard not so much as a
discovery of theirs, as a view derived from holy Scripture. For
this is pointed out by Moses, before all other philosophers, when he
describes the first creation of man in these words: “And
God said, Let Us make man in Our own image, and after Our
likeness;”2672
and then he adds
the words: “So God created man in His own image: in
the image of God created He him; male and female created He them, and
He blessed them.”2673
Now the
expression, “In the image2674
of God created
He him,” without any mention of the word”
likeness,”2675
conveys no other
meaning than this, that man received the dignity of God’s image
at his first creation; but that the perfection of his likeness has been
reserved for the consummation,—namely, that he might acquire it
for himself by the exercise of his own diligence in the imitation of
God, the possibility of attaining to perfection being granted him at
the beginning through the dignity of the divine image, and the perfect
realization of the divine likeness being reached in the end by the
fulfilment of the (necessary) works. Now, that such is the case,
the Apostle John points out more clearly and unmistakeably, when he
makes this declaration: “Little children, we do not yet
know what we shall be; but if a revelation be made to us from the
Saviour, ye will say, without any doubt, we shall be like
Him.”2676
By which
expression he points out with the utmost certainty, that not only was
the end of all things to be hoped for, which he says was still unknown
to him, but also the likeness to God, which will be conferred in
proportion to the completeness of our deserts. The Lord Himself,
in the Gospel, not only declares that these same results are future,
but that they are to be brought about by His own intercession, He
Himself deigning to obtain them from the Father for His disciples,
saying, “Father, I will that where I am, these also may be
with Me; and as Thou
and I are one, they also may be one in Us.”2677
In which the divine likeness itself
already appears to advance, if we may so express ourselves, and from
being merely similar, to become the same,2678
| 2678 Ex simili unum
fieri. |
because undoubtedly in the consummation or end God is “all and in
all.” And with reference to this, it is made a question by
some2679
| 2679 Jerome, in his
Epistle to Avitus, No. 94, has the passage thus:
“Since, as we have already frequently observed, the beginning is
generated again from the end, it is a question whether then also there
will be bodies, or whether existence will be maintained at some time
without them when they shall have been annihilated, and thus the life
of incorporeal beings must be believed to be incorporeal, as we know is
the case with God. And there is no doubt that if all the bodies
which are termed visible by the apostle, belong to that sensible world,
the life of incorporeal beings will be incorporeal.” And a
little after: “That expression, also, used by the apostle,
‘The whole creation will be freed from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God’
(Rom. viii.
21), we so understand, that
we say it was the first creation of rational and incorporeal beings
which is not subject to corruption, because it was not clothed with
bodies: for wherever bodies are, corruption immediately
follows. But afterwards it will be freed from the bondage of
corruption, when they shall have received the glory of the sons of God,
and God shall be all in all.” And in the same place:
“That we must believe the end of all things to be incorporeal,
the language of the Saviour Himself leads us to think, when He says,
‘As I and Thou are one, so may they also be one in Us’
(John xvii. 21). For we ought to know what God
is, and what the Saviour will be in the end, and how the likeness of
the Father and the Son has been promised to the saints; for as they are
one in Him, so they also are one in them. For we must adopt the
view, either that the God of all things is clothed with a body, and as
we are enveloped with flesh, so He also with some material covering,
that the likeness of the life of God may be in the end produced also in
the saints: or if this hypothesis is unbecoming, especially in
the judgment of those who desire, even in the smallest degree, to feel
the majesty of God, and to look upon the glory of His uncreated and
all-surpassing nature, we are forced to adopt the other alternative,
and despair either of attaining any likeness to God, if we are to
inhabit for ever the same bodies, or if the blessedness of the same
life with God is promised to us, we must live in the same state as that
in which God lives.” All these points have been omitted by
Rufinus as erroneous, and statements of a different kind here and there
inserted instead (Ruæus). | whether the nature of bodily matter,
although cleansed and purified, and rendered altogether spiritual, does
not seem either to offer an obstruction towards attaining the dignity
of the (divine) likeness, or to the property of unity,2680
| 2680 Ad unitatis
proprietatem. | because neither can a corporeal nature
appear capable of any resemblance to a divine nature which is certainly
incorporeal; nor can it be truly and deservedly designated one with it,
especially since we are taught by the truths of our religion that that
which alone is one, viz., the Son with the Father, must be referred to
a peculiarity of the (divine) nature.
2. Since, then, it is promised that in the end God
will be all and in all, we are not, as is fitting, to suppose that
animals, either sheep or other cattle, come to that end, lest it should
be implied that God dwelt even in animals, whether sheep or other
cattle; and so, too, with pieces of wood or stones, lest it should be
said that God is in these also. So, again, nothing that is wicked
must be supposed to attain to that end, lest, while God is said to be
in all things, He may also be said to be in a vessel of
wickedness. For if we now assert that God is everywhere and in
all things, on the ground that nothing can be empty of God, we
nevertheless do not say that He is now “all things” in
those in whom He is. And hence we must look more carefully as to
what that is which denotes the perfection of blessedness and the end of
things, which is not only said to be God in all things, but also
“all in all.” Let us then inquire what all those
things are which God is to become in all.
3. I am of opinion that the expression, by
which God is said to be “all in all,” means that He is
“all” in each individual person. Now He will be
“all” in each individual in this way: when all which
any rational understanding, cleansed from the dregs of every sort of
vice, and with every cloud of wickedness completely swept away, can
either feel, or understand, or think, will be wholly God; and when it
will no longer behold or retain anything else than God, but when God
will be the measure and standard of all its movements; and thus God
will be “all,” for there will no longer be any distinction
of good and evil, seeing evil nowhere exists; for God is all things,
and to Him no evil is near: nor will there be any longer a desire
to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the part of
him who is always in the possession of good, and to whom God is
all. So then, when the end has been restored to the beginning,
and the termination of things compared with their commencement, that
condition of things will be re-established in which rational nature was
placed, when it had no need to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil; so that when all feeling of wickedness has been removed, and
the individual has been purified and cleansed, He who alone is the one
good God becomes to him “all,” and that not in the case of
a few individuals, or of a considerable number, but He Himself is
“all in all.” And when death shall no longer anywhere
exist, nor the sting of death, nor any evil at all, then verily God
will be “all in all.” But some are of opinion that
that perfection and blessedness of rational creatures, or natures, can
only remain in that same condition of which we have spoken above, i.e.,
that all things should possess God, and God should be to them all
things, if they are in no degree prevented by their union with a bodily
nature. Otherwise they think that the glory of the highest
blessedness is impeded by the intermixture of any material
substance.2681
| 2681 “Here the
honesty of Rufinus in his translation seems very suspicious: for
Origen’s well-known opinion regarding the sins and lapses of
blessed spirits he here attributes to others. Nay, even the
opinion which he introduces Origen as ascribing to others, he exhibits
him as refuting a little further on, sec. 6, in these words:
‘And in this condition (of blessedness) we are to believe that,
by the will of the Creator, it will abide for ever without any
change,’ etc. I suspect, therefore, that all this is due to
Rufinus himself, and that he has inserted it, instead of what is found
in the beginning of the chapter, sec. 1, and which in Jerome’s
Epistle to Avitus stands as follows: ‘Nor is there
any doubt that, after certain intervals of time, matter will again
exist, and bodies be formed, and a diversity be established in the
world, on account of the varying wills of rational creatures who, after
(enjoying) perfect blessedness down to the end of all things, have
gradually fallen away to a lower condition and received into them so
much wickedness that they are converted) into an opposite condition, by
their unwillingness to retain their original state, and to preserve
their blessedness uncorrupted. Nor is this point to be
suppressed, that many rational creatures retain their first condition
(principium) even to the second and third and fourth
worlds, and allow no room for any change within them while others,
again, will lose so little of their pristine state, that they will
appear to have lost almost nothing, and some are to be precipitated
with great destruction into the lowest pit. And God, the disposer
of all things, when creating His worlds, knows how to treat each
individual agreeably to his merits, and He is acquainted with the
occasions and causes by which the government (gubernacula) of
the world is sustained and commenced: so that he who surpassed
all others in wickedness, and brought himself completely down to the
earth, is made in another world, which is afterwards to be formed, a
devil, the beginning of the creation of the Lord (Job xl. 19), to be
mocked by the angels who have lost the virtue of their original
condition’ (exordii
virtutem).”—Ruæus. | But
this subject we have discussed at
greater length, as may be seen in the preceding pages.
4. And now, as we find the apostle making
mention of a spiritual body, let us inquire, to the best of our
ability, what idea we are to form of such a thing. So far, then,
as our understanding can grasp it, we consider a spiritual body to be
of such a nature as ought to be inhabited not only by all holy and
perfect souls, but also by all those creatures which will be liberated
from the slavery of corruption. Respecting the body also, the
apostle has said, “We have a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens,”2682
i.e., in the
mansions of the blessed. And from this statement we may form a
conjecture, how pure, how refined, and how glorious are the qualities
of that body, if we compare it with those which, although they are
celestial bodies, and of most brilliant splendour, were nevertheless
made with hands, and are visible to our sight. But of that body
it is said, that it is a house not made with hands, but eternal in the
heavens. Since, then, those things “which are seen are
temporal, but those things which are not seen are
eternal,”2683
all those bodies
which we see either on earth or in heaven, and which are capable of
being seen, and have been made with hands, but are not eternal, are far
excelled in glory by that which is not visible, nor made with hands,
but is eternal. From which comparison it may be conceived how
great are the comeliness, and splendour, and brilliancy of a spiritual
body; and how true it is, that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, what God hath
prepared for them that love Him.”2684
We ought not, however, to doubt that
the nature of this present body of ours may, by the will of God, who
made it what it is, be raised to those qualities of refinement, and
purity, and splendour (which characterize the body referred to),
according as the condition of things requires, and the deserts of our
rational nature shall demand. Finally, when the world required
variety and diversity, matter yielded itself with all docility
throughout the diverse appearances and species of things to the
Creator, as to its Lord and Maker, that He might educe from it the
various forms of celestial and terrestrial beings. But when
things have begun to hasten to that consummation that all may be one,
as the Father is one with the Son, it may be understood as a rational
inference, that where all are one, there will no longer be any
diversity.
5. The last enemy, moreover, who is called
death, is said on this account to be destroyed, that there may not be
anything left of a mournful kind when death does not exist, nor
anything that is adverse when there is no enemy. The destruction
of the last enemy, indeed, is to be understood, not as if its
substance, which was formed by God, is to perish, but because its mind
and hostile will, which came not from God, but from itself, are to be
destroyed. Its destruction, therefore, will not be its
non-existence, but its ceasing to be an enemy, and (to be) death.
For nothing is impossible to the Omnipotent, nor is anything incapable
of restoration2685
to its
Creator: for He made all things that they might exist, and those
things which were made for existence cannot cease to be.2686
| 2686 [“Origen
went so far, that, contrary to the general opinion, he allowed Satan
the glimmer of a hope of future grace.…He is here speaking of the
last enemy, death: but it is evident, from the context, that he
identifies death with the devil,” etc. (Hagenbach’s
History of Doctrines, vol. i. p. 145–147. See
also, supra, book i. vi. 3. p. 261.) S.] | For this reason also will they admit
of change and variety, so as to be placed, according to their merits,
either in a better or worse position; but no destruction of substance
can befall those things which were created by God for the purpose of
permanent existence.2687
| 2687 Ut essent et
permanerent. | For those
things which agreeably to the common opinion are believed to perish,
the nature either of our faith or of the truth will not permit us to
suppose to be destroyed. Finally, our flesh is supposed by
ignorant men and unbelievers to be destroyed after death, in such a
degree that it retains no relic at all of its former substance.
We, however, who believe in its resurrection, understand that a change
only has been produced by death, but that its substance certainly
remains; and that by the will of its Creator, and at the time
appointed, it will be restored to life; and that a second time a change
will take place in it, so that what at first was flesh (formed) out of
earthly soil, and was afterwards dissolved by death, and again reduced
to dust and ashes (“For dust thou art,”2688
it is said, “and to dust shalt thou
return”), will be again raised from the earth, and shall after
this, according to the merits of the indwelling soul, advance to the
glory of a spiritual body.
6. Into this condition, then, we are to suppose
that all this bodily substance of ours will be brought, when all things shall be
re-established in a state of unity, and when God shall be all in
all. And this result must be understood as being brought about,
not suddenly, but slowly and gradually, seeing that the process of
amendment and correction will take place imperceptibly in the
individual instances during the lapse of countless and unmeasured ages,
some outstripping others, and tending by a swifter course towards
perfection,2689
while others again
follow close at hand, and some again a long way behind; and thus,
through the numerous and uncounted orders of progressive beings who are
being reconciled to God from a state of enmity, the last enemy is
finally reached, who is called death, so that he also may be destroyed,
and no longer be an enemy. When, therefore, all rational souls
shall have been restored to a condition of this kind, then the nature
of this body of ours will undergo a change into the glory of a
spiritual body. For as we see it not to be the case with rational
natures, that some of them have lived in a condition of degradation
owing to their sins, while others have been called to a state of
happiness on account of their merits; but as we see those same souls
who had formerly been sinful, assisted, after their conversion and
reconciliation to God, to a state of happiness; so also are we to
consider, with respect to the nature of the body, that the one which we
now make use of in a state of meanness, and corruption, and weakness,
is not a different body from that which we shall possess in
incorruption, and in power, and in glory; but that the same body, when
it has cast away the infirmities in which it is now entangled, shall be
transmuted into a condition of glory, being rendered spiritual, so that
what was a vessel of dishonour may, when cleansed, become a vessel unto
honour, and an abode of blessedness. And in this condition, also,
we are to believe, that by the will of the Creator, it will abide for
ever without any change, as is confirmed by the declaration of the
apostle, when he says, “We have a house, not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens.” For the faith of the
Church2690
does not admit the
view of certain Grecian philosophers, that there is besides the body,
composed of four elements, another fifth body, which is different in
all its parts, and diverse from this our present body; since neither
out of sacred Scripture can any produce the slightest suspicion of
evidence for such an opinion, nor can any rational inference from
things allow the reception of it, especially when the holy apostle
manifestly declares, that it is not new bodies which are given to those
who rise from the dead, but that they receive those identical ones
which they had possessed when living, transformed from an inferior into
a better condition. For his words are: “It is sown an
animal body, it will rise a spiritual body; it is sown in corruption,
it will arise in incorruption: it is sown in weakness, it will
arise in power: it is sown in dishonour, it will arise in
glory.”2691
As,
therefore, there is a kind of advance in man, so that from being first
an animal being, and not understanding what belongs to the Spirit of
God, he reaches by means of instruction the stage of being made a
spiritual being, and of judging all things, while he himself is judged
by no one; so also, with respect to the state of the body, we are to
hold that this very body which now, on account of its service to the
soul, is styled an animal body, will, by means of a certain progress,
when the soul, united to God, shall have been made one spirit with Him
(the body even then ministering, as it were, to the spirit), attain to
a spiritual condition and quality, especially since, as we have often
pointed out, bodily nature was so formed by the Creator, as to pass
easily into whatever condition he should wish, or the nature of the
case demand.
7. The whole of this reasoning, then,
amounts to this: that God created two general natures,—a
visible, i.e., a corporeal nature; and an invisible nature, which is
incorporeal. Now these two natures admit of two different
permutations. That invisible and rational nature changes in mind
and purpose, because it is endowed with freedom of will,2692
and is on this account found sometimes to be
engaged in the practice of good, and sometimes in that of the
opposite. But this corporeal nature admits of a change in
substance; whence also God, the arranger of all things, has the service
of this matter at His command in the moulding, or fabrication, or
re-touching of whatever He wishes, so that corporeal nature may be
transmuted, and transformed into any forms or species whatever,
according as the deserts of things may demand; which the prophet
evidently has in view when he says, “It is God who makes and
transforms all things.”2693
8. And now the point for investigation is,
whether, when God shall be all in all, the whole of bodily nature will,
in the consummation of all things, consist of one species, and the sole
quality of body be that which shall shine in the indescribable glory
which is to be regarded as the future possession of the spiritual
body. For if we rightly understand the matter, this is the
statement of Moses in the beginning of his book, when he says,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.”2694
For this is
the beginning of all
creation: to this beginning the end and consummation of all
things must be recalled, i.e., in order that that heaven and that earth
may be the habitation and resting-place of the pious; so that all the
holy ones, and the meek, may first obtain an inheritance in that land,
since this is the teaching of the law, and of the prophets, and of the
Gospel. In which land I believe there exist the true and living
forms of that worship which Moses handed down under the shadow of the
law; of which it is said, that “they serve unto the example and
shadow of heavenly things”2695
—those,
viz., who were in subjection in the law. To Moses himself also
was the injunction given, “Look that thou make them after the
form and pattern which were showed thee on the mount.”2696
From which it appears to me, that as
on this earth the law was a sort of schoolmaster to those who by it
were to be conducted to Christ, in order that, being instructed and
trained by it, they might more easily, after the training of the law,
receive the more perfect principles of Christ; so also another earth,
which receives into it all the saints, may first imbue and mould them
by the institutions of the true and everlasting law, that they may more
easily gain possession of those perfect institutions of heaven, to
which nothing can be added; in which there will be, of a truth, that
Gospel which is called everlasting, and that Testament, ever new, which
shall never grow old.
9. In this way, accordingly, we are to
suppose that at the consummation and restoration of all things, those
who make a gradual advance, and who ascend (in the scale of
improvement), will arrive in due measure and order at that land, and at
that training which is contained in it, where they may be prepared for
those better institutions to which no addition can be made. For,
after His agents and servants, the Lord Christ, who is King of all,
will Himself assume the kingdom; i.e., after instruction in the holy
virtues, He will Himself instruct those who are capable of receiving
Him in respect of His being wisdom, reigning in them until He has
subjected them to the Father, who has subdued all things to Himself,
i.e., that when they shall have been made capable of receiving God, God
may be to them all in all. Then accordingly, as a necessary
consequence, bodily nature will obtain that highest condition2697
| 2697 Jerome
(Epistle to Avitus, No. 94) says that Origen, “after a
most lengthened discussion, in which he asserts that all bodily nature
is to be changed into attenuated and spiritual bodies, and that all
substance is to be converted into one body of perfect purity, and more
brilliant than any splendour (mundissimum et omni splendore
purius), and such as the human mind cannot now conceive,”
adds at the last, “And God will be ‘all in all,’ so
that the whole of bodily nature may be reduced into that substance
which is better than all others, into the divine, viz., than which none
is better.” From which, since it seems to follow that God
possesses a body, although of extreme tenuity (licet
tenuissimum), Rufinus has either suppressed this view, or altered
the meaning of Origen’s words (Ruæus). | to which nothing more can be added.
Having discussed, up to this point, the quality of bodily nature, or of
spiritual body, we leave it to the choice of the reader to determine
what he shall consider best. And here we may bring the third book
to a conclusion.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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