|
But in what way shall the good go out to see the punishment of the
wicked? Are they to leave their happy abodes by a bodily movement,
and proceed to the places of punishment, so as to witness the torments
of the wicked in their bodily presence? Certainly not; but they shall
go out by knowledge. For this expression, go out, signifies that
those who shall be punished shall be without. And thus the Lord also
calls these places "the outer darkness," to which is opposed that
entrance concerning which it is said to the good servant, "Enter into
the joy of thy Lord," that it may not be supposed that the wicked can
enter thither and be known, but rather that the good by their knowledge
go out to them, because the good are to know that which is without.
For those who shall be in torment shall not know what is going on
within in the joy of the Lord; but they who shall enter into that joy
shall know what is going on outside in the outer darkness. Therefore
it is said, "They shall go out," because they shall know what is
done by those who are without. For if the prophets were able to know
things that had not yet happened, by means of that indwelling of God
in their minds, limited though it was, shall not the immortal saints
know things that have already happened, when God shall be all in all?
The seed, then, and the name of the saints shall remain in that
blessedness, the seed, to wit, of which John says, "And his seed
remaineth in him;" and the name, of which it was said through Isaiah
himself, "I will give them an everlasting name." "And there shall
be to them month after month, and Sabbath after Sabbath," as if it
were said, Moon after moon, and rest upon rest, both of which they
shall themselves be when they shall pass from the old shadows of time
into the new lights of eternity. The worm that dieth not, and the
fire that is not quenched, which constitute the punishment of the
wicked, are differently interpreted by different people. For some
refer both to the body, others refer both to the soul; while others
again refer the fire literally to the body, and the worm figuratively
to the soul, which seems the more credible idea. But the present is
not the time to discuss this difference, for we have undertaken to
occupy this book with the last judgment, in which the good and the bad
are separated: their rewards and punishments we shall more carefully
discuss elsewhere.
|
|