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There are many allusions to the last judgment in the Psalms, but for
the most part only casual and slight. I cannot, however, omit to
mention what is said there in express terms of the end of this world:
"In the beginning hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth, O
Lord; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall
perish, but Thou shall endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a
garment; and as a vesture Thou shall change them, and they shall be
changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail."
Why is it that Porphyry, while he lauds the piety of the Hebrews in
worshipping a God great and true, and terrible to the gods
themselves, follows the oracles of these gods in accusing the
Christians of extreme folly because they say that this world shall
perish? For here we find it said in the sacred books of the Hebrews,
to that God whom this great philosopher acknowledges to be terrible
even to the gods themselves, "The heavens are the work of Thy
hands; they shall perish." When the heavens, the higher and more
secure part of the world, perish, shall the world itself be
preserved? If this idea is not relished by Jupiter, whose oracle is
quoted by this philosopher as an unquestionable authority in rebuke of
the credulity of the Christians, why does he not similarly rebuke the
wisdom of the Hebrews as folly, seeing that the prediction is found in
their most holy books? But if this Hebrew wisdom, with which
Porphyry is so captivated that he extols it through the utterances of
his own gods, proclaims that the heavens are to perish, how is he so
infatuated as to detest the faith of the Christians partly, if not
chiefly, on this account, that they believe the world is to perish?,
though how the heavens are to perish if the world does not is not easy
to see. And, indeed, in the sacred writings which are peculiar to
ourselves, and not common to the Hebrews and us, I mean the
evangelic and apostolic books, the following expressions are used:
"The figure of this world passeth away;" "The world passeth
away;" "Heaven and earth shall pass away,", expressions which
are, I fancy, somewhat milder than "They shall perish." In the
Epistle of the Apostle Peter, too, where the world which then was
is said to have perished, being overflowed with water, it is
sufficiently obvious What part of the world is signified by the whole,
and in what sense the word perished is to be taken, and what heavens
were kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men. And when he says a little afterwards,
"The day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great rush, and the elements shall melt with
burning heat, and the earth and the works which are in it shall be
burned up and then adds, "Seeing, then, that all these things shall
be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be?", these heavens
which are to perish may be understood to be the same which he said were
kept in store reserved for fire; and the elements which are to be
burned are those which are full of storm and disturbance in this lowest
part of the world in which he said that these heavens were kept in
store; for the higher heavens in whose firmament are set the stars are
safe, and remain in their integrity. For even the expression of
Scripture, that "the stars shall fall from heaven," not to mention
that a different interpretation is much preferable, rather shows that
the heavens themselves shall remain, if the stars are to fall from
them. This expression, then, is either figurative, as is more
credible, or this phenomenon will take place in this lowest heaven,
like that mentioned by Virgil,- "A meteor with a train of light
Athwart the sky gleamed dazzling bright, Then in Idaean woods was
lost."
But the passage I have quoted from the psalm seems to except none of
the heavens from the destiny of destruction; for he says, "The
heavens are the works of Thy hands: they shall perish;" so that, as
none of them are excepted from the category of God's works, none of
them are excepted from destruction. For our opponents will not
condescend to defend the Hebrew piety, which has won the approbation
of their gods, by the words of the Apostle Peter, whom they
vehemently detest; nor will they argue that, as the apostle in his
epistle understands a part when he speaks of the whole world perishing
in the flood, though only the lowest part of it, and the corresponding
heavens were destroyed, so in the psalm the whole is used for a part,
and it is said "They shall perish," though only the lowest heavens
are to perish. But since, as I said, they will not condescend to
reason thus, lest they should seem to approve of Peter's meaning, or
ascribe as much importance to the final conflagration as we ascribe to
the deluge, whereas they contend that no waters or flames could destroy
the whole human race, it only remains to them to maintain that their
gods lauded the wisdom of the Hebrews because they had not read this
psalm.
It is the last judgment of God which is re ferred to also in the
50th Psalm in the words, "God shall come manifestly, our God,
and shall not keep silence: fire shall devour before Him, and it
shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call the heaven
above, and the earth, to judge His people. Gather His saints
together to Him; they who make a covenant with Him over
sacrifices." This we understand of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we
look for from heaven to judge the quick and the dead. For He shall
come manifestly to judge justly the just and the unjust, who before
came hiddenly to be unjustly judged by the unjust. He, I say, shall
come manifestly, and shall not keep silence, that is, shall make
Himself known by His voice of judgment, who before, when he came
hiddenly, was silent before His judge when He was led as a sheep to
the slaughter, and, as a lamb before the shearer, opened not His
mouth as we read that it was prophesied of Him by Isaiah, and as we
see it fulfilled in the Gospel. As for the fire and tempest, we have
already said how these are to be interpreted when we were explaining a
similar passage in Isaiah. As to the expression, "He shall call
the heaven above," as the saints and the righteous are rightly called
heaven, no doubt this means what the apostle says, "We shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air." For if we take the bare literal sense, how is it possible to
call the heaven above, as if the heaven could be anywhere else than
above? And the following expression, "And the earth to judge His
people," if we supply only the words, "He shall call," that is to
say, "He shall call the earth also," and do not supply "above,"
seems to give us a meaning in accordance with sonnet doctrine, the
heaven symbolizing those who will judge along with Christ, and the
earth those who shall be judged; and thus the words, "He shall call
the heaven above," would not mean, "He shall catch up into the
air," but "He shall lift up to seats of judgment." Possibly,
too, "He shall call the heaven," may mean, He shall call the
angels in the high and lofty places, that He may descend with them to
do judgment; and "He shall call the earth also" would then mean,
He shall call the men on the earth to judgment. But if with the words
"and the earth" we understand not only "He shall call," but also
"above," so as to make the full sense be, He shall call the heaven
above, and He shall call the earth above, then I think it is best
understood of the men who shall be caught up to meet Christ in the
air, and that they are called the heaven with reference to their
souls, and the earth with reference to their bodies. Then what is
"to judge His people," but to separate by judgment the good from the
bad, as the sheep from the goats? Then he turns to address the
angels: "Gather His saints together unto Him." For certainly a
matter so important must be accomplished by the ministry of angels.
And if we ask who the saints are who are gathered unto Him by the
angels, we are told, "They who make a covenant with Him over
sacrifices." This is the whole life of the saints, to make a
covenant with God over sacrifices. For "over sacrifices" either
refers to works of mercy, which are preferable to sacrifices in the
judgment of God, who says, "I desire mercy more than sacrifices,"
or if "over sacrifices" means in sacrifices, then these very works of
mercy are the sacrifices with which God is pleased, as I remember to
have stated in the tenth book of this work; and in these works the
saints make a covenant with God, because they do them for the sake of
the promises which are contained in His new testament or covenant.
And hence, when His saints have been gathered to Him and set at His
right hand in the last judgment, Christ shall say, "Come, ye
blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me
to eat," and so on, mentioning the good works of the good, and their
eternal rewards assigned by the last sentence of the Judge.
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