Edition
Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)
Caput XII: An ad ultimum supplicium pertineat inpiorum, quod descendisse ignis de caelo et eosdem comedisse memoratur.
Quod uero ait: et descendit ignis de caelo et comedit eos, non extremum putandum est id esse supplicium, quod erit, cum dicetur: discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum. tunc quippe in ignem mittentur ipsi, non ignis de caelo ueniet in ipsos. hic autem bene intellegitur ignis de caelo de ipsa firmitate sanctorum, qua non cessuri sunt saeuientibus, ut eorum faciant uoluntatem. firmamentum est enim caelum, cuius firmitate illi cruciabuntur ardentissimo zelo, quoniam non poterunt adtrahere in partes Antichristi sanctos Christi. et ipse erit ignis, qui comedet eos, et hoc a deo, quia dei munere insuperabiles fiunt sancti, unde excruciantur inimici. sicut enim in bono positum est: zelus domus tuae comedit me, ita e contrario: zelus occupauit plebem ineruditam, et nunc ignis contrarios comedet. et nunc utique, excepto scilicet ultimi illius igne iudicii. aut si eam plagam, qua percutiendi sunt ecclesiae persecutores ueniente iam Christo, quos uiuentes inueniet super terram, quando interficiet Antichristum spiritu oris sui, ignem appellauit descendentem de caelo eosque comedentem, neque hoc ultimum supplicium erit inpiorum, sed illud quod facta corporum resurrectione passuri sunt.
Traduction
Masquer
The City of God
Chapter 12.--Whether the Fire that Came Down Out of Heaven and Devoured Them Refers to the Last Punishment of the Wicked.
The words, "And fire came down out of heaven and devoured them," are not to be understood of the final punishment which shall be inflicted when it is said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire;" 1 for then they shall be cast into the fire, not fire come down out of heaven upon them. In this place "fire out of heaven" is well understood of the firmness of the saints, wherewith they refuse to yield obedience to those who rage against them. For the firmament is "heaven," by whose firmness these assailants shall be pained with blazing zeal, for they shall be impotent to draw away the saints to the party of Antichrist. This is the fire which shall devour them, and this is "from God;" for it is by God's grace the saints become unconquerable, and so torment their enemies. For as in a good sense it is said, "The zeal of Thine house hath consumed me," 2 so in a bad sense it is said, "Zeal hath possessed the uninstructed people, and now fire shall consume the enemies." 3 "And now," that is to say, not the fire of the last judgment. Or if by this fire coming down out of heaven and consuming them, John meant that blow wherewith Christ in His coming is to strike those persecutors of the Church whom He shall then find alive upon earth, when He shall kill Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, 4 then even this is not the last judgment of the wicked; but the last judgment is that which they shall suffer when the bodily resurrection has taken place.