Chapter IV.
On the things accompanying the judgment, such as the conflagration of fires.
Next, something must be added concerning the things accompanying the judgment, which are two, namely the conflagration of worldly fires and the resurrection of bodies.
Concerning the conflagration, therefore, this must be held: that fire will precede the face of the Judge, by which the face of the earth will be burned up, so that the figure of this world will perish by the conflagration of worldly fires, just as the flood came about by the inundation of waters.
Now the figure of this world is said to pass away, not as regards the total destruction of this sensible world, but because through the action of that fire all flammable elementary things will be consumed, plants and animals; the elements will be purged and renewed, especially air and earth; the just will be purged and the reprobate will be burned; and when these things have been accomplished, the motion of the heavens will also cease, so that, with the number of the elect completed, there may come about a certain renewal and rewarding of worldly bodies.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because the universal principle of things, since it is most wise, although in all things that it does it attends to the order of wisdom, yet most especially ought it to attend to those things which pertain to the consummation, so that the beginning may not be discordant from the middle, nor the middle from the end, but in all things most fittingly ordered there may appear the ordering wisdom and goodness and sublimity of that first principle. Since therefore God according to His most orderly wisdom made this entire sensible and greater world for the sake of the lesser world, namely man, who is placed in the middle between God and these lower things: hence it is that, so that all things may be congruent with one another, and the dwelling may have harmony with the dweller, when man was well established, this world ought to have been established in a good and peaceful state; when man fell, this world also ought to have deteriorated; when man was disturbed, it ought to have been disturbed; when man was purged, it ought to have been purged; when man was renewed, it ought to have been renewed; and when man was consummated, it ought to have been brought to rest.
First, therefore, since this world must be disturbed when man is disturbed, just as it stood with him while he stood and in a certain way fell with him when he fell; and since in the final judgment, on account of the severity of the judge to be displayed, it is necessary that the hearts of all be terrified, and especially of sinners, who despised the Lord of all things, so that every creature may receive divine zeal and be conformed to its Author, and also conformed to its inhabitant: it is necessary that the foundations of the entire world be most horribly shaken. And because nothing more intensely and swiftly and horribly in its action moves the other elements than fire rushing together from here and there on every side: hence it is that fire must precede the face of the judge himself, not from one side only, but from every part of the world, so that there may be a convergence of elemental and terrestrial fire, of purgatorial and also infernal fire, so that by infernal fire the reprobate may be burned, by purgatorial fire the just may be purged, by terrestrial fire these things born of the earth may be consumed, by elemental fire the elements may be refined and disposed toward the face of renewal, and together with this all other things may be disturbed, so that not only men and demons, but even the Angels beholding may be terrified.
Again, since this world must be purged together with man who is to be cleansed; and man in the state of the final time needs to be purged from the dross of avarice and malice, just as in the first time from the filth of lust; he needs also to be purged both swiftly and intimately and perfectly: hence it is that just as the world was previously destroyed and in a certain way purged by the element of water, which is cold, against the heat and filth of lust; so the final world will be purged by fire on account of the cooling of charity and the coldness of malice and avarice, which will reign at the end as if in the old age of the world itself. Because these are of the greatest adherence, it is necessary that the purging agent be of intimate, violent and accelerated action; which is not found in any other element than fire. And therefore, just as the flood was brought about by an inundation of waters, so by the action of fire the face of this sensible world will be burned up.
Furthermore, since this world ought to be renewed together with renewed man; nor can anything be renewed into a new form unless it loses the old one and is in some way disposed by a new disposition brought upon it: hence it is that, since fire has especially the power of expelling an extraneous form, and also has a refining power akin to celestial nature: therefore through it there ought to occur purgation and renewal at once, such that, since it has a twofold efficacy, with respect to the one it precedes the coming of the Judge, but with respect to the other it must follow. And since the renewal is toward a newness that no longer returns to oldness—and thus toward an incorruptible newness, which it is not in the power of any creature to bestow—hence it is that, although in that purgation and renewal fire accomplishes something by its natural power, such as igniting, purging, rarefying, and refining, nevertheless it is necessary that together with that natural power there be a power operating above nature, by whose command the beginning of the conflagration will occur, and by whose power the completion will likewise be brought about.
Finally, since this world ought to be consummated when man is consummated; and man is then consummated when the number of the elect will have been completed in glory, toward which state indeed all things tend as toward their ultimate and complete end: it is necessary, once that number has been completed, that the motion of the celestial nature be terminated and brought to rest; it is also necessary that elemental transmutations be terminated: it is also necessary as a consequence that generation, which occurs in animals and in plants, be terminated. For since all these things are ordered to the most noble form, which is indeed the rational soul, once a final state is established in souls, it is necessary that a final state and completion be established in all the other preceding things.
And therefore the celestial bodies, having obtained rest and fullness of light, are said to be rewarded. The elements, however, which will no longer have the power of multiplying through mutual transmutation, are said to perish — not with respect to substance, but with respect to mutual action and passion, and this especially with respect to active qualities. But plants and sentient creatures, because they do not have the capacity for perpetual life and everlasting duration, such as befits the state of that nobility, must necessarily be consumed in their own nature—yet in such a way that they are preserved in their principles and in a certain way in what is similar to them, namely in the human being, who bears a likeness to every kind of creature; and therefore in his renewal and glorification, all things can be said to be renewed and in a certain way rewarded.