37. Op the Five-fold Klngdom of God and of the Flrst Sensible Klngdom, and What Are the Future Things at the Last Judgment

FINALLY the fifth, and in the same way the last of those things of which we are treating in this book, is the same of which the wise man speaks : " And he showed to him the Kingdom of God." For where anyone has obtained and possessed all the gifts of God before mentioned and explained, in a sublime and excellent degree, to him now is shown the Kingdom of God in a five-fold manner. Since the external, sensible kingdom is shown to him, in the same way too the natural kingdom, the kingdom of scripture, the kingdom of grace above nature and scripture, and finally the divine kingdom above grace and glory are also shown. For to have all these things clearly and lucidly known 190 and ascertained, is called' common life. And concerning the outward sensible king dom, that is the four elements, and the three superior elements of Heaven, and how God has adorned them from the beginning, has been explained. But how, after the last resurrection both those things, as also human bodies, are to be divinely adorned, we shall now explain. In the last day fire will pervade and penetrate all those things which are on earth, and will thoroughly consume and burn them up. And here the fire will be fourfold, that is to say, Tartarean, Purgatorial, Elementary, and Material. The Tartarean will burn up the souls of the lost ; the Purgatorial, good men from their daily sins, and will purge them from every debt ; the Elementary will repurge and renew the very elements, and will render them subtile ; finally the Material will burn up whatever there is on earth, and will also reduce men's very bodies to dust. Then at once Christ, the Judge of the whole world will appear, and will command all the dead to rise again and to stand at His judgment seat with mind and body, and then at the right hand of God Omnipotent o.n the very day of judgment soul and body will be joined once more. All the good will appear with immense clearness and the damned with excessive deformity. Moreover judgment will be delivered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, because that place, known to all, is as it were situated in the centre of the earth, and because Christ suffered and died not far therefrom. Christ with all His sainti will be in the air ; the wicked, with the weight of their sins, will abide heavily upon the earth. The sentence to be carried out against the damned will be : " Depart ye cursed into eternal fire," than which nothing more terrible is to be heard. But to the good the Lord will say : " Come " —which is a loving expression — " ye blessed " — which is a more loving expression " — inherit the kingdom " —which no one will unwillingly hear — " of my Father " — which savours still more sweetly — " prepared for you from the foundation of the world," which causes eternal praise and thanksgiving, because the elect have been before created. Moreover at the same time when judgment shall have been completed, and the damned plunged into Tartarus, heaven and the elements will be restored. For the fire which we have mentioned will be so great that it will reduce to ashes and dust everything which it finds on earth. For by fire Almighty God will purge the elements and will present them renewed by clearness and subtilty, and will restore them more exquisite in form than they were be fore. For since those very elements haye been defiled by the crimes and sins of men, it is necessary that they should be purged again by fire. But when they have done service to good men, it must needs be that they obtain clearness and subtilty as though by way of reward, and even partly for this reason, that this world may gain a certain similitude of the glorious bodies, and that blessed men may contemplate in accordance with their external senses the loveliness of heaven and earth. But the highest part of nature, that is to say, the heavens and the planets, because they are far distant from the earth, are pure and un mixed, and therefore need no purgation, but will remain immoveable and will gain greater clearness. And this is their transition and renewal ; the sun will occupy the east, and the moon the west, where they have been established. Indeed the heavens and the planets have been created for the use of men for a double reason. In the first place because men and all corporeal creatures are generated, live and increase by the movement and influence of the heavens. But because then there will be no mortal creature, the movement of the heavens will sink to rest. In the second place on account of their own beauty and clearness, which will then be much increased, but the earth will be clear as crystal and spreading as a palm. Water will be purer than now it is and clearer, and there will remain «to it, not to say its sub-

_stance, but its own species. /Air will have more light, since the sun and the moon and the stars will be clearer by seven fold than now they are, nor will there be henceforth clouds or hailstorms, or winds, or thunderbolts, or thunderings ; it shall

^cease to be night] there, with perpetual day succeeding day7 and light or clearness in earth as it is in heaven. Moreover what ever is dense and obscure on earth, or is cold in the waves, or in fire possesses the power of burning, shall all descend into Tartarus. Furthermore the transparency of „ the waters and of the air, and the splendour of fire, each in its own sphere, shall remain even increased in greater clearness or light. Thus therefore, /lieaven anH earth shall \ indeed pass away, but shall not wholly j perish, nay rather they shall be the move excellently renewed. And this is the ex- < ternal, sensible Kingdom of God and of all His saints, and the glorious bodies of the blessed shall possess it with endless joy.