Bonaventure

Articulus II. De igne conflagrationis.

Quaestio IV. De ordine huius ignis ad ea quae fient in iudicio.

On the footnote numbering. The Quaracchi editors restart their footer numbering on every printed page. This chunk spans printed pages 979 and 980, so its apparatus labels are page-qualified: notes 8, 9 and 10 of page 979, and notes 1 through 9 of page 980. Notes 1–7 of page 979 are anchored in the preceding question (a2-q3), and notes 10–11 of page 980 are anchored in the dubia that follow.

Quarto quaeritur de ordine istius ignis ad ea quae fient in iudicio, et quaeritur, utrum ille ignis praecedat iudicium, aut sequatur. Et quod praecedat, videtur:

1. Per auctoritatem Psalmi⁸: Ignis ante ipsum praecedet etc.

2. Item, Isaiae ultimo⁹: Dominus in igne veniet; sed adventus est ante iudicium: ergo et ignis ante iudicium praecedet.

3. Item, ratione videtur: quia ille ignis purgabit electos, sicut dicitur in Malachiae tertio¹⁰: Ipse sedebit conflans et emundans argentum; sed in iudicio necesse est quod omnes electi praesententur iudici purgati et emundati: ergo etc.

Contra: 1. Augustinus de Civitate Dei vigesimo in fine¹ posuit ordinem illorum quae erunt in iudicio, et dicit, quod « conflagratio erit post iudicium ».

2. Item, Augustinus² dicit: « Iudicatis impiis et in aeternum ignem missis, figura huius mundi mundanorum ignium conflagratione peribit ».

3. Item, constat, quod secundum quod dicitur primae ad Thessalonicenses quarto³, Dominus inveniet multos vivos: Deinde nos, qui vivimus etc.: ergo constat, quod ignis conflagrationis, cum totum consumat, non praeibit⁴.

4. Item, ignis conflagrationis est ordinatus ad innovationem, ita quod purgando innovat; sed innovatio sequitur iudicium, ut patet Apocalypsis vigesimo primo⁵: ergo etc.

Conclusio

Alius ignis, sive alius effectus eiusdem, praecedet iudicium et purgabit electos, alius vero sequetur et purgabit mundum et tandem cruciabit damnatos.

Respondeo: Ad hoc respondere voluerunt quidam distinguendo iudicium, dicentes, quod est iudicium definitionis, et illud praecedet ignem, quia ante dabitur sententia contra malos, quam veniat ignis; et est iudicium exsecutionis, et istud sequitur ignem, quia reprobi illo igne involventur et ad infernum deducentur. — Sed haec responsio non potest stare, quia Augustinus dicit, quod « iudicatis impiis et in aeternum ignem missis, figura huius mundi mundanorum ignium conflagratione peribit ».

Alii respondent distinguendo duplicem effectum huius ignis, scilicet purgare et innovare: ratione purgationis praecedit, ratione innovationis sequitur. Et secundum hoc solvunt rationes ad partes oppositas. — Sed nec istud videtur stare posse, quia ignis purgando innovat; unde effectus isti sunt coniuncti et indivisi; et ideo, si natura se habeant secundum ordinem, tamen tempore sunt simul.

Et ideo potest dici, sicut dicit Glossa super illud Malachiae tertio⁶: Purgabit filios Levi: « Duos ignes legimus futuros: unum, qui purgabit electos et praecedet iudicium, alterum, qui reprobos cruciabit ». Secundum hanc Glossam dicendum, quod sive dicantur duo ignes quantum ad substantiam, sive duo ratione duorum effectuum, dicendus est futurus ignis in iudicio ad electorum purgationem, quia debet uniuscuiusque opus probari et purgari in igne⁷, ut totaliter sistantur mundati in conspectu Dei; et hic praecedet faciem iudicis et purgando amicos, inflammabit in circuitu inimicos. Est etiam ignis futurus ad purgationem mundi et eius innovationem; et iste, ut dicit⁸, sequetur iudicium et exuret faciem mundi et purgabit et demum reprobos cruciabit. — Concedendae igitur sunt rationes probantes, quod aliquis ignis praecedet iudicium.

Quod vero obiicitur, quod nullus praecedat, quia Dominus inveniet multos vivos; dicendum, quod ille ignis erit ad purgationem electorum, non ad consumtionem; et ideo, sicut tres pueri in camino ignis ardentis divina sunt virtute conservati illaesi, sic fiet in illo igne, qui eos purgabit⁹.

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Article II. On the fire of the conflagration.

Question IV. On the order of this fire in relation to the things that will take place at the judgement.

Fourthly there is asked about the order of that fire in relation to the things that will take place at the judgement, and it is asked whether that fire precedes the judgement or follows it. And that it precedes seems so:

1. By the authority of the Psalm⁸: A fire shall go before him etc.

2. Likewise, in the last chapter of Isaiah⁹: The Lord will come in fire; but the coming is before the judgement: therefore the fire also will go before the judgement.

3. Likewise, it seems so by reason: because that fire will purge the elect, as is said in the third chapter of Malachi¹⁰: He shall sit refining and cleansing the silver; but at the judgement it is necessary that all the elect be presented to the judge purged and cleansed: therefore etc.

On the contrary: 1. Augustine, in the twentieth book On the City of God, at the end¹, set out the order of those things which will be at the judgement, and says that "the conflagration will be after the judgement."

2. Likewise, Augustine² says: "When the impious have been judged and sent into the eternal fire, the figure of this world will perish by the conflagration of worldly fires."

3. Likewise, it is agreed that, according to what is said in the fourth chapter of the first letter to the Thessalonians³, the Lord will find many living: Then we who are alive etc.: therefore it is agreed that the fire of the conflagration, since it consumes everything, will not go before⁴.

4. Likewise, the fire of the conflagration is ordered to the renewal, in such a way that by purging it renews; but the renewal follows the judgement, as is clear from the twenty-first chapter of the Apocalypse⁵: therefore etc.

Conclusion

One fire, or one effect of the same fire, will precede the judgement and will purge the elect; but another will follow and will purge the world and at last will torment the damned.

I respond: To this some have wished to answer by distinguishing judgement, saying that there is a judgement of definition, and that one will precede the fire, because the sentence against the wicked will be given before the fire comes; and there is a judgement of execution, and that one follows the fire, because the reprobate will be enveloped by that fire and led down to hell. — But this answer cannot stand, because Augustine says that "when the impious have been judged and sent into the eternal fire, the figure of this world will perish by the conflagration of worldly fires."

Others answer by distinguishing a twofold effect of this fire, namely to purge and to renew: by reason of the purging it precedes, by reason of the renewal it follows. And according to this they resolve the arguments for the opposite sides. — But neither does this seem able to stand, because the fire by purging renews; hence these effects are conjoined and undivided; and therefore, even if in nature they stand in an order, nevertheless in time they are together.

And therefore it can be said, as the Gloss says upon that text of the third chapter of Malachi⁶: He shall purify the sons of Levi: "We read that two fires are to come: one, which will purge the elect and will precede the judgement; the other, which will torment the reprobate." According to this Gloss it must be said that, whether two fires be spoken of as regards substance, or two by reason of two effects, the fire that is to be at the judgement must be said to be for the purgation of the elect, because each one's work must be tested and purged in fire⁷, so that they may be presented wholly cleansed in the sight of God; and this fire will precede the face of the judge, and while purging its friends, it will set aflame its enemies round about. There is also a fire to come for the purgation of the world and its renewal; and this one, as he says⁸, will follow the judgement, and will burn up the face of the world and will purge, and finally will torment the reprobate. — Therefore the arguments proving that some fire will precede the judgement are to be granted.

But as to what is objected, that none precedes, because the Lord will find many living; it must be said that that fire will be for the purgation of the elect, not for their consuming; and therefore, just as the three boys in the furnace of burning fire were preserved unharmed by divine power, so it will happen in that fire which will purge them⁹.

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