Bonaventure

Articulus II. De igne conflagrationis.

Consequenter quantum ad secundam partem distinctionis quaeritur de igne, qui praecedet faciem iudicis, per quem fiet conflagratio. Et circa hoc quaeruntur quatuor.

Primo quaeritur de eius quidditate.

Secundo, de virtute.

Tertio, de extensione.

Quarto, de ordine ignis illius ad ea quae fient in iudicio.

Quaestio I. De quidditate ignis conflagratorii.

Quantum ergo ad primum proceditur sic, et ostenditur, quod ille ignis sit elementum:

1. Quia dicitur Genesis secundo⁵: Requievit Deus die septimo ab omni opere; Glossa et Sancti dicunt ibi, quod hoc intelligitur « quantum ad productionem novarum creaturarum »: ergo videtur, quod tunc non producat ignem novum.

2. Item, ratione videtur: quia « natura non facit per plura quod potest facere per pauciora⁶ », ergo multo fortius nec Deus; sed totum potest fieri per istum: ergo etc.

3. Item, ratione ostenditur per simile: quia facta est purgatio mundi per aquam; et illa aqua non fuit de novo creata nec alterius naturae quam aqua, quae dicitur elementum⁷: ergo etc.

4. Item, Augustinus de Civitate vigesimo⁸ dicit: « Figura huius mundi mundanorum ignium conflagratione peribit, sicut factum est aquarum inundatione diluvium »: ergo si ignis mundanus est ignis, qui est de mundi constitutione, et hic est ignis elementum; patet etc.

Contra: 1. Nihil se ipsum purgat; sed ignis elementum purgabitur illo igne et consumetur, sicut dicit Glossa secundae Petri tertio⁹, quod « maximus ille ignis quatuor elementa consumet »: ergo etc.

2. Item, iste ignis totum elementorum ambitum circuibit; sed ille ignis elementum habet particularem situm: non erit ergo ignis elementum.

3. Item, illius ignis erit ascendere, sicut dicit Glossa Bedae¹, quod « tantum ascendet, quantum aqua diluvii »; sed si esset ignis elementum, cum sphaera eius sit sursum, eius esset descendere: ergo etc.

4. Praeterea, esto quod descendat, aut aliquid subintrabit locum eius, aut nihil. Si aliquid, quaero: quid? Non est dare. Si nihil: ergo vacuum erit, ergo etc.

5. Item, cum finalis purgatio sit perfecta, videtur, quod non tantum debeat fieri per elementum unum, sed per omnia quae habent naturam purgandi: ergo si aqua habet purgandi naturam, videtur etc.

Iuxta hoc quaeritur: quare prima purgatio fuit per aquam, et secunda erit per ignem?

Conclusio

Conflagratio haec fiet ab igne elementari, non de novo creato, sed multiplicato virtute Dei et undique congregato.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod aliqui voluerunt dicere, quod ille ignis erit ignis elementum; nec mirum. Ignis enim modicus, apposito combustibili, augetur in infinitum se multiplicando²; sic etiam modo faceret ignis ille, nisi impediretur; sed si vigoraretur eius vis, sicut fiet in iudicio, totum poterit consumere et purgare, nec oportet novum ignem creare.

Sed quia videntur Sancti dicere, quod ignis ille non tantum descendet, sicut pluit Dominus super Sodomam³, sed quia magis ascendet; ideo dicunt alii, quod erit alius ignis, non creatus, sed virtute corporum supercaelestium in inferioribus generatus; ex confractione enim et multiplicatione radiorum ad speculum concavum generatur ignis propter subtiliationem aëris circumstantis; similiter ad urinale plenum aqua. Et quamvis oporteat ad hoc, quod ignis per hunc modum generetur, fieri aggregationem radiorum; non oportet, speculis concavis mundum impleri, sed alio modo ad nubes concavas, sicut scit disponere divina providentia, poterit ignis in omnibus his inferioribus generari. — Quod hoc non sit possibile, vel etiam primum⁴, non dico; sed stultum est hic aliquid fingere, sed Sanctorum auctoritatibus inniti oportet.

Et ipsi non aperte determinant, quis sit ille ignis; tamen excellens doctor Augustinus dicit, quod « fiet mundanorum ignium conflagratione, sicut factum est aquarum inundatione diluvium ». Ideo huic auctoritati innitendo dico, quod sicut in diluvio non sunt novae aquae creatae, sed eaedem ipsae multiplicatae sunt, et hoc operante⁵ adiutorio superiorum corporum, per quae facta est elevatio vaporum; sic etiam credo, quod non solum ignis, qui est in sphaera sua, sed omnes ignes, et qui in terra et super terram et sub terra sunt, concurrent ad illam conflagrationem, sicut videtur velle Augustinus. Et bene concedo, quod virtus superiorum corporum concurret ad ignis multiplicationem et actionem. — Concedendae sunt igitur rationes probantes, quod non creabitur novus ignis; sed ex eis non habetur, quod solum per ignem, qui est in sphaera sua, fiat.

Ad argumenta: Ad 1. Ad illud quod obiicitur in contrarium, quod nihil purgat se ipsum; dicendum, quod habet instantiam in igne; hoc etiam habet instantiam in duobus corporibus, quorum ultimum per conflagrationem et confractionem purgatur.

Ad 2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod totum ambitum circuibit; dicendum, quod tunc ignis diffundetur et multiplicabitur et a sursum et deorsum.

Ad 3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod descendet tunc; dicendum, quod ascendet respectu ignis, qui est in terra, et descendet respectu ignis, qui est super terram.

Ad 4. Quod obiicit, quod vacuum erit; dicendum, quod non descendet mutando locum, sed agendo⁶ et immutando secundum virtutem.

Ad 5. Ad illud quod quaeritur: quare fit tunc per ignem tantum? dicendum, quod ratio est ex parte purgationis hominum a peccato et a parte purgationis mundi. Ex parte purgationis hominum, quia, sicut in principio ardor regnavit concupiscentiae, sic in senectute mundi frigus avaritiae; refrigescet enim caritas multorum⁷; et ideo, quia purgatio debet fieri per contrarium; sicut purgatio ardoris concupiscentiae facta est per aquam, sic purgatio frigoris malitiae et avaritiae fiet per ignem. — Alia ratio est ex parte purgationis mundi, quia illa fuit ad delendum hominem vetustum et novos homines procreandos; haec autem erit ad totum meliorandum et in meliorem faciem commutandum; et quia ignis urit et subtiliat, aqua non: ideo haec in igne erit⁸, diluvium vero non in igne fuit, sed in aqua.

Note on the apparatus numbering. Quaracchi restarts its footnote numbering on every printed page, so this chunk carries two independent sequences: notes 5–9 of page 975 and notes 1–8 of page 976. Page 975's notes 1–4 belong to the preceding question (a. 1, q. 4) and are rendered there. The labels below are page-qualified to keep the two sequences distinct.

Article II. On the fire of the conflagration.

Next, as regards the second part of the distinction, inquiry is made concerning the fire which will precede the face of the Judge, through which the conflagration will come about. And concerning this four things are asked.

First, inquiry is made concerning its quiddity.

Second, concerning its power.

Third, concerning its extension.

Fourth, concerning the order of that fire to the things which will be done in the judgement.

Question I. On the quiddity of the fire of the conflagration.

As regards the first, then, one proceeds thus, and it is shown that that fire is the element:

1. Because it is said in Genesis the second⁵: God rested on the seventh day from every work; and the Gloss and the Saints say there that this is understood « as regards the production of new creatures »: therefore it seems that He does not then produce a new fire.

2. Likewise, it seems so by reason: because « nature does not do through many things what it can do through fewer⁶ », therefore much more neither does God; but the whole can come about through this one: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, it is shown by reason through a similitude: because the purgation of the world was made through water; and that water was not created anew, nor of another nature than the water which is called the element⁷: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, Augustine in the twentieth book of the City⁸ says: « The figure of this world will perish by the conflagration of mundane fires, just as the deluge came about by the inundation of waters »: therefore, if the mundane fire is the fire which belongs to the constitution of the world, then this is also the fire that is the element; it is plain, etc.

Contra: 1. Nothing purges itself; but the fire that is the element will be purged by that fire and consumed, as the Gloss on the second of Peter, the third chapter⁹, says, that « that greatest fire will consume the four elements »: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, this fire will encircle the whole compass of the elements; but that fire which is the element has a particular situation: therefore it will not be the fire that is the element.

3. Likewise, it will belong to that fire to ascend, as the Gloss of Bede says¹, that « it will ascend as far as the water of the deluge did »; but if it were the fire that is the element, since its sphere is above, it would belong to it to descend: therefore etc.

4. Furthermore, granted that it descends, either something will enter into its place, or nothing. If something, I ask: what? There is nothing to assign. If nothing: then there will be a vacuum, therefore etc.

5. Likewise, since the final purgation is a perfect one, it seems that it ought to be made not only through one element, but through all those which have the nature of purging: therefore, if water has the nature of purging, it seems etc.

Alongside this it is asked: why was the first purgation through water, and the second will be through fire?

Conclusion

This conflagration will come about from elemental fire, not newly created, but multiplied by the power of God and gathered together from every side.

I respond: It must be said that some have wished to say that that fire will be the fire that is the element; nor is this surprising. For a small fire, when combustible material is placed near it, is increased infinitely by multiplying itself²; so also would that fire do even now, were it not impeded; but if its force were invigorated, as will happen at the judgement, it would be able to consume and purge the whole, and there is no need to create a new fire.

But because the Saints seem to say that that fire will not only descend, as the Lord rained upon Sodom³, but rather that it will ascend; therefore others say that it will be another fire, not created, but generated in lower things by the power of the supercelestial bodies. For from the breaking and the multiplication of rays at a concave mirror fire is generated on account of the rarefaction of the surrounding air; likewise at a urinal flask full of water. And although, for fire to be generated in this way, an aggregation of rays must come about, it is not necessary that the world be filled with concave mirrors, but in another way, at concave clouds — as divine providence knows how to dispose — fire will be able to be generated in all these lower things. — That this is not possible, or even the first opinion⁴, I do not say; but it is foolish to feign anything here, and one must rather rely on the authorities of the Saints.

And they themselves do not openly determine which fire it is; yet the excellent doctor Augustine says that « it will come about by the conflagration of mundane fires, just as the deluge came about by the inundation of waters ». Therefore, relying on this authority, I say that, just as in the deluge no new waters were created, but those same waters were multiplied — and this by the working⁵ aid of the higher bodies, through which the raising of vapours was made — so also I believe that not only the fire which is in its own sphere, but all fires, both those which are in the earth and upon the earth and under the earth, will concur in that conflagration, as Augustine seems to hold. And I readily concede that the power of the higher bodies will concur in the multiplication and the action of the fire. — The arguments proving that a new fire will not be created are therefore to be conceded; but from them it is not had that it comes about only through the fire which is in its own sphere.

To the arguments: To 1. To that which is objected on the contrary, that nothing purges itself; it must be said that there is an instance to the contrary in fire; and this also has an instance in two bodies, of which the latter is purged through conflagration and breaking.

To 2. To that which is objected, that it will encircle the whole compass; it must be said that then the fire will be diffused and multiplied both from above and from below.

To 3. To that which is objected, that it will then descend; it must be said that it will ascend with respect to the fire which is in the earth, and will descend with respect to the fire which is above the earth.

To 4. As to the objection that there will be a vacuum; it must be said that it will not descend by changing place, but by acting⁶ and by altering according to power.

To 5. To that which is asked: why does it then come about through fire alone? it must be said that the reason is on the side of the purgation of men from sin and on the side of the purgation of the world. On the side of the purgation of men, because, just as in the beginning the ardour of concupiscence reigned, so in the old age of the world the coldness of avarice does; for the charity of many shall grow cold⁷; and therefore, since purgation ought to be made through the contrary, just as the purgation of the ardour of concupiscence was made through water, so the purgation of the coldness of malice and avarice will be made through fire. — The other reason is on the side of the purgation of the world, because that one was for destroying the old man and for procreating new men; but this one will be for bettering the whole and for changing it into a better appearance; and because fire burns and rarefies, whereas water does not, therefore this one will be in fire⁸, whereas the deluge was not in fire, but in water.