QUESTION IV. Whether by those words was signified the fire of purgatory.¹

QUAESTIO IIII. An illis verbis significatus fuerit ignis purgatorius.

Saint Ambrose, in explaining that verse of Psalm 118, 'Reward your servant, that I may live, and keep your words,' interprets this fire, placed at the entrance of paradise, as the fire of purgatory: in which the souls of the just, who in this life have not fully wiped away the stains of sins, or for the sins forgiven them have not fully satisfied God, are wholly purified, and, every debt paid, are expiated. For nothing defiled, as it is written in the Apocalypse, can enter into that heavenly city. But Ambrose thinks that a twofold baptism was constituted by God for purging the sins of men: one in this life, which is done by the water of baptism, by which sins are washed away; the other after this life, by which sins are entirely burned away, so that the just can truly say to God, 'We have passed through fire and water, and you have led us out into refreshment.' The words of Ambrose are thus: 'There is also a baptism in the vestibule of paradise, which before was not: but after the sinner was excluded, there began to be the fiery sword which God placed, which before was not, when sin was not. Fault began, and baptism began, by which those might be purified who desired to return into paradise, that returning they might say, We have passed through fire and water. Here through water, there through fire. Through water, that sins may be washed; through fire, that they may be burned. But, which is more grave, we sustain both fire here and there. Who is he who baptizes in this fire? Not a presbyter, not a Bishop, not John who says, I baptize you unto penance; not an Angel, not an Archangel, not Dominations, not Powers, but he of whom John says, He who comes after me is stronger than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. He has his fan in his hand, and will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Not of this baptism...'²

Sanctus Ambrosius explanando versiculum illum Psalmi 118. Retribue servo tuo, ut vivam, & custodiam verba tua, ignem hunc in aditu paradisi collocatum, interpretatur ignem purgatorium: in quo iustorum animae qui in hac vita maculas peccatorum penitus non absterserunt, vel pro condonatis sibi delictis non plene Deo satisfecerunt, in totum purificantur, omnique debito persoluto expiantur. Nihil enim inquinatum, ut scriptum est in Apocalypsi, in coelestem illam civitatem intrare potest. Duplicem autem putat Ambrosius a Deo constitutum ad purganda hominum peccata baptismum: unum in hac vita, qui fit per aquam baptismi, quo eluuntur delicta: alterum post hanc vitam, quo peccata omnino exuruntur, ut vere Deo iusti dicere possint, Transivimus per ignem & aquam, & eduxisti nos in refrigerium. Ambrosii verba sic habent: Est etiam baptismum in paradisi vestibulo, quod antea non erat: sed posteaquam peccator exclusus est, coepit esse romphaea ignea quam posuit Deus, quae antea non erat quando peccatum non erat. Culpa coepit, & baptismum coepit, quo purificentur qui in paradisum redire cupiebant ut regressi dicerent, Transivimus per ignem & aquam. Hic per aquam, illic per ignem. Per aquam, ut abluantur peccata: per ignem, ut exurantur. Sed, quod est gravius, & hic ignem, & illic sustinemus. Quis est, qui in hoc igne baptizat? Non presbyter, non Episcopus, non Ioannes qui ait, Ego vos baptizo in poenitentiam: non Angelus, non Archangelus, non Dominationes, non Potestates, sed de quo Ioannes ait, Qui venit post me, fortior me est, cuius non sum dignus calceamenta portare: ipse vos baptizabit in Spiritu sancto & igni. Habet ventilabrum in manu sua, & permundabit aream suam, & congregabit triticum in horreum suum, paleas autem comburet igni inextinguibili. Non de hoc baptisma...

'...is that baptism which is done by the priests of the Church spoken, the Lord himself testifies, since after the consummation of the age, the Angels being sent to separate the good and the evil, this will be the baptism, when through the furnace of fire iniquity shall be burned away, that in the kingdom of God the just may shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father; and if anyone, like Peter or John, is baptized by this fire. There will come a great Baptist (for so I name him, as Gabriel named him, saying, He shall be great): he will see many standing before the vestibule of paradise, he will move the turning sword, he will say to those on the right who have no grave sins, Enter, you who presume, who fear not the fire. For I had foretold to you, Behold, I come as fire. And through Ezekiel I had said, Behold, I will set out to Jerusalem, and I will breathe upon you in the fire of my wrath, that you may melt like lead and iron. Let therefore the consuming fire come, let it burn out in us the lead of iniquity, the iron of sin, and make us pure gold. Let it burn my reins and my heart, that I may think good things, that I may desire the things of chastity. But because he who is purged here has need to be purified there again, let it purify us there too, when the Lord shall say, Enter into my rest: that each of us, singed by that flaming sword, not burned up, having entered into that pleasantness of paradise, may give thanks to his Lord, saying, You have led us into refreshment. He therefore who has passed through the fire, enters into rest. He passes from material and worldly things to those incorruptible and perpetual. This is one fire, by which are burned away sins not voluntary but fortuitous, which the Lord Jesus prepared for his little servants, that he might cleanse them from that sojourn by which one is mingled with the dead; and that other fire is another, which he assigned to the devil and his angels, of which he says, Go into eternal fire: by which that rich man burned, who begged for himself a drop of moisture from Lazarus's finger. But Lazarus, reclining in Abraham's bosom, enjoyed eternal life, which the Prophet promises himself, saying, I shall live and keep your words.' Thus Ambrose.³

baptismate quod fit per sacerdotes Ecclesiae dictum ipse Dominus testificatur, siquidem post consummationem saeculi missis Angelis, qui segregent bonos & malos, hoc futurum est baptisma, quando per caminum ignis iniquitas exuretur, ut in regno Dei fulgeant iusti, sicut sol in regno Patris sui: & si aliquis ut Petrus sit aut Ioannes, baptizatur hoc igni. Veniet Baptista magnus (sic enim eum nomino quomodo nominavit Gabriel dicens, Hic erit magnus,) videbit multos ante paradisi stantes vestibulum, movebit romphaeam versatilem, dicet iis qui a dextris sunt non habentibus gravia peccata, Intrate qui praesumitis, qui ignem non timetis. Praedixeram enim vobis, Ecce venio sicut ignis. Et per Ezechielem dixeram, Ecce proficiscar in Hierusalem, & insufflabo in vos in igne irae meae, ut tabescatis a plumbo & ferro. Veniat ergo ignis consumens, exurat in nobis plumbum iniquitatis, ferrum peccati, faciatque nos aurum syncerum. Urat renes meos & cor meum, ut bona cogitem, ea quae castitatis sunt concupiscam. Sed quia hic purgatus, iterum necesse habet illic purificari, illic quoque nos purificet, quando dicat Dominus, Intrate in requiem meam: ut unusquisque nostrum ustus romphaea illa flammea non exustus, introgressus in illam paradisi amoenitatem, gratias agat Domino suo dicens, Induxisti nos in refrigerium. Qui ergo per ignem transierit, intrat in requiem. Transit a materialibus atque mundanis ad illa incorruptibilia atque perpetua. Alius iste ignis, quo exuruntur peccata non voluntaria, sed fortuita, quem paravit servulis suis dominus Iesus, ut eos ab ista commoratione qua permixta est mortuis emundet: & alius ille ignis, quem deputavit diabolo, & angelis eius, de quo dicit, Ite in ignem aeternum: quo ille dives ardebat, qui stillam sibi de Lazari digito poscebat humorem. At vero Lazarus in Abrahae sinu recumbens vitam carpebat aeternam, quam sibi promittit Propheta dicens, Vivam & custodiam verba tua. Haec Ambrosius.

Rupert writes similar things in the third book of his Commentaries on Genesis, chapters 32 and 33, affirming that the fire was placed before paradise for this reason: that those who depart from this life not wholly pure and immaculate, purified by that examining fire, may be admitted into the blessed fatherland; so that they can most truly say what is in Psalm 65, 'You have proved us, O God, you have tried us by fire as silver is tried.' And because by the ministry of Angels the souls of the just are led into heaven, and, according to each one's merits, some sooner, some later, are transferred by the Angels from the purgatorial fire into eternal rest: therefore the Cherubim too are said to have been before paradise. To these Rupert adds that that fire, which is placed at the entrance of paradise, is inaccessible to all mortals: for the blast of it, vehemently burning far and wide, is felt beforehand as intolerable, before anyone could approach nearer to it; wherefore where the place of paradise is, can be known to no one — of which thing let this too be an argument, that those who advanced against the course of the Nile, inquiring into its sources and origin, the farther they proceeded, the more fervent regions and the hotter waters of the Nile they experienced. Which they indeed referred to the torrid zone through which the Nile passes; but it is more true and more credible to say that this happens on account of...⁴

Similia Rupertus scribit libro tertio Commentariorum in Genesim capite 32. & 33. affirmans, propterea ignem fuisse positum ante paradisum, ut qui ex hac vita excedunt, non omnino puri atque immaculati, per illum examinatorium ignem purificati, beatam in patriam admittantur: ut verissime possint dicere, quod est in Psalm. 65. Probasti nos Deus, igne nos examinasti sicut examinatur argentum. Et quia ministerio Angelorum animae iustorum introducuntur in coelum, & pro meritis cuiusque, aliae citius, aliae tardius ex igne purgatorio in aeternam requiem per Angelos transferuntur: idcirco dicuntur etiam Cherubim fuisse ante paradisum. His addit Rupertus, ignem illum, qui positus est in aditu paradisi, cunctis mortalibus esse inaccessibilem, Etenim afflatus eius longe lateque vehementer urens, ante sentitur intolerabilis, quam possit quispiam eo propius accedere, quamobrem ubi sit paradisi locus, nemini potest esse cognitum: cuius rei sit etiam illud argumentum, quod qui contra cursum Nili processere inquirentes eius fontes atque originem, quanto longius progrediebantur, tanto ferventiores regiones, & aquas Nili calidiores experiebantur. Quod illi quidem referebant ad Zonam torridam quam Nilus permeat: sed verius & credibilius dictu est, id accidere pro...

'And here a great wrath does not leave off fellowship with the mercy necessary to us. For it is of the wrath of the just God, that he placed a flaming sword before Paradise; but of mercy, that he willed that sword to be turning. The turning sword is the sentence of the divine judgment, which is such that it can turn — that is, does not always with the same severity close the approach of Paradise to men. But it is said to be flaming, because in truth the judgment of the Lord, the judgment is a flame of fire, according to the Apostle, giving vengeance in a flame of fire to those who have not known God. Moreover, Cherubim is the name of Angelic fortitudes. That these were placed at Paradise to guard the approach of the tree of life, when we read, we wonder — although we hold and confess by public faith that we are to pass through fire, and shall not enter Paradise except examined by the ministry of Angels. It is very terrible, what is conceived from this passage compared with other passages of the Scriptures — for example, with that which the Apostle says: If anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, the work of each shall be manifest. For the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire. And the fire shall try the work of each, of what sort it is. If anyone's work remains which he has built upon, he shall receive a reward. If anyone's work burns, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. For what do we gather from such sayings, except that for this the flaming and turning sword was placed before Paradise, that whoever are thereafter to be admitted may pass thither through the examining fire? As if he said: Because the conceptions of Eve were to be multiplied, and there would be a confused or mingled multitude of good and evil, and the Lord God wished to admit many only whom he knew by name, and thus shaken out, so that they can say, Because you have proved us, O God, you have tried us by fire as silver is tried, etc.: therefore he placed before Paradise the Cherubim, and the flaming and turning sword. And rightly the Angels who preside over such things are called Cherubim, that is, fullness of knowledge. For they have full knowledge of judging, for they know what is written in the book of each of us — that is, they have well committed to memory what good or evil each of us has done. Daily they read singly, and at the last they shall universally recite those books, of which in Daniel it is written, The judgment sat, and the books were opened. Rightly, therefore, the Cherubim are so called not so much for their praise, as for our terror, because our hidden things are to be published to them.'⁶

Et hic ira grandis, necessaria nobis misericordia societatem non relinquit. Ira namque iusti Dei est, quod ante Paradisum flammeum gladium collocavit: misericordia vero, quod eum gladium versatilem esse voluit. Gladius versatilis, sententia est divini iudicii, quae talis est, ut possit versari, id est, non semper eadem districtione claudat hominibus aditum Paradisi. Flammeus autem esse dicitur: quia revera iudicium Domini, iudicium flamma ignis est iuxta Apostolum, dantis vindictam in flamma ignis, iis qui non noverunt Deum. Porro Cherubim, nomen est Angelicarum fortitudinum. Haec ad Paradisum esse posita ad custodiendum ligni vitae aditum, cum legimus, miramur: cum tamen publica fide teneamus & confiteamur, quod per ignem transituri, & non, nisi per Angelorum ministerium examinati, Paradisum intraturi sumus. Terribile valde est, quod ex hoc loco cum ceteris Scripturarum locis collato concipitur, verbi gratia, cum eo quod dicit Apostolus: Si quis superaedificat super fundamentum hoc, aurum, argentum, lapides pretiosos, ligna, foenum, stipulam, uniuscuiusque opus manifestum erit. Dies enim Domini declarabit, quia in igne manifestabitur. Et uniuscuiusque opus quale sit, ignis probabit. Si cuius opus manserit quod superaedificavit mercedem accipiet. Si cuius opus arserit, detrimentum patietur, ipse autem salvus erit, sic tamen quasi per ignem. Quid enim ex huiusmodi dictis colligimus, nisi ad hoc flammeum gladium, atque versatilem ante Paradisum esse collocatum, ut quicumque deinceps admittendi sunt, illuc transeant per examinatorium ignem? Tanquam diceret, Quia multiplicandi erant conceptus Evae, & futura erat confusa vel permixta multitudo bonorum & malorum, multos autem dominus Deus admittere nolebat, nisi quos ipse nosset ex nomine, & sic excussos, ut dicere possint, Quoniam probasti nos Deus, igne nos examinasti, sicut examinatur argentum, &c. idcirco collocavit ante Paradisum Cherubim, & flammeum gladium atque versatilem. Et recte Angeli, qui in huiusmodi praesunt, Cherubim, id est, plenitudo scientiae vocantur. Ipsi namque iudicandi plenam habent scientiam, Sciunt enim, quid in libro cuiusque nostrum sit scriptum, id est, bene habent memoriae traditum, quid boni aut mali gesserit quisque nostrum. Quotidie singulariter legunt, & in novissimo universaliter recitaturi sunt libros illos, de quibus in Daniele scriptum est, Iudicium sedit, & libri aperti sunt. Recte itaque Cherubim, non tam ad laudem ipsorum, quam ad terrorem nostrum dicti sunt, quia nostra illis occulta publicanda sunt.

'But it must be known that that fire is most troublesome both to souls and to bodies, and inaccessible to all mortals. But to the dead — that is, to the souls of the dead faithful — it is surmountable from the time of the Lord's passion, and to their bodies too it will be passable in the resurrection. But before that same passion of our Lord, it was passable to none at all of the sons of Adam, until, poured out from the body...'⁷

Sciendum autem, quod tam animabus quam corporibus ignis ille molestissimus est, & inaccessibilis cunctis mortalibus. Mortuis autem, id est, mortuorum fidelium animabus a tempore dominicae passionis exuperabilis est, & corporibus quoque illorum in resurrectione erit pervius. Porro ante eandem Domini nostri passionem, nulli omnino filiorum Adam pervius fuit, donec fusus de corpore...

'...his blood, poured out from the body, with water, surmounted that fire: not that they extinguished the substance of that same fire, but because it conferred this power on those who had awaited him, that that fire could not harm them; there immediately followed that venerable thief, whom, confessing on the cross, the faith of the blood of Christ immediately fortified against that fire, lest it should oppose him. And we all follow, having the foundation which is Christ — some gold or silver, some precious stones, some wood, hay, stubble; that is, bearing sins each of diverse weights or measures. And as some of these are consumed by fire more easily or more difficultly than others, so each of us, according to the diversity of sins, some sooner, some later, being purged, shall enter the felicity of Paradise. This fire is called a sword not only in this place, but in most passages of Scripture — as there, For in the fire of the Lord shall all the earth be devoured, and in his sword all flesh. Therefore, when this divine Writer says, And he placed before Paradise the Cherubim, and a flaming and turning sword, to guard the way of the tree of life, he touched the matter more briefly and more secretly — namely, the judgment of fire through which we are to pass — than is found in most passages of Scripture; but to those diligently gazing he announced more terribly the difficulty of the return, by which the sons of blessing, begotten in this exile, are recalled thither by the grace of God.'⁸

corpore eius sanguis cum aqua, ignem illum exuperavit: non quod substantiam eiusdem ignis extinxerunt, sed quia illis, qui eum expectaverant hanc virtutem contulit, ut eis ille nocere non posset ignis, secutus est confestim latro ille venerabilis, quem confessum in cruce continuo munierat fides sanguinis Christi contra illum ignem, ne obsisteret illi. Consequimur & nos omnes, fundamentum quod est Christus, habentes, alii aurum vel argentum, alii lapides pretiosos, alii ligna, foenum, stipulam, id est, diversorum quique ponderum vel modiorum peccata portantes. Et sicut horum alia aliis facilius difficiliusve igni, consumuntur: ita quique nostrum pro diversitate peccatorum alii citius, alii tardius purgati, Paradisi foelicitatem ingredientur. Hic ignis non solum hoc loco, sed plerisque Scripturae locis gladius dicitur: ut illic, In igne enim Domini devorabitur omnis terra, & in gladio eius omnis caro. Igitur dum dicit Scriptor iste divinus, Et collocavit ante Paradisum Cherubim, & flammeum gladium, atque versatilem ad custodiendam viam ligni vitae, brevius quidem ac secretius rem attigit, scilicet iudicium ignis, per quod transituri sumus, quam in plerisque Scripturae locis invenitur: sed diligenter intuentibus terribilius enunciavit difficultatem regressionis, qua filii benedictionis in hoc exilio generati per gratiam Dei illuc revocantur.

'And in the following chapter: Less, he says, than the things which have been said, seems to sound that which is placed at the end, To guard the way of the tree of life: for this same thing, it is agreed, could have been said, if each was not to be kept from that tree of life except so long as he lived in this body, for the causes already said above: for this the flaming sword would surely suffice, nor would it be necessary that the Cherubim too should be placed before Paradise. For that fire is inaccessible to all the living, and beforehand the blast of it is intolerable, before it can be at all known where Paradise is. For so it has been found out by men who, following up the Nile to find its head, were able to drink it warm, and could not reach its origin. For so the Roman author says: The ruddy zone of the pole, scorched, prevented them from seeing the warm Nile. It does not pertain to us here what such men say about the five zones of heaven, because they have no foundation from the Scriptures of truth, since they are the opinions or conjectures of worldly men; but this, with their confession, we prove certain: that on account of the intolerable vapor of fire, no mortal could ever reach the source of the river Nile, whose origin, it is agreed according to this Scripture, flows from Paradise. Therefore, even if the Cherubim were not placed before Paradise, the flaming sword would have sufficed to drive away men.'⁹

Et cap. seq. Minus, inquit, quam ea quae dicta sunt, videtur sonare illud quod in fine positum est, Ad custodiendam viam ligni vitae: Hoc idem namque constat dici potuisse, si non esset arcendus quisque ab illo ligno vitae, nisi quandiu viveret in isto corpore propter causas superius iam dictas: ad hoc profecto sufficeret flammeus gladius, nec opus esset ut Cherubim quoque ante Paradisum collocarentur. Ille quippe ignis cunctis viventibus est inaccessibilis, & ante afflatus eius est intollerabilis, quam possit ullatenus sciri ubinam Paradisus sit. Sic enim ab hominibus compertum est, qui Nilum contra sequentes, ut caput eius invenirent, potuerunt bibere calentem, & non potuerunt ad eius pervenire originem. Sic enim Romanus auctor dicit: Illos rubicunda perusti / Zona poli tenuit Nilum videre calentem. Non pertinet hic ad nos, quid tales homines de quinque Zonis coeli dicant, quia de Scripturis veritatis non habent fundamentum, cum sint opiniones vel coniecturae saecularium, sed hoc cum illorum confessione certum comprobamus, quod propter intollerabilem, ignis vaporem, nemo mortalium potuit unquam Nili fluminis consequi fontem, cuius constat secundum hanc Scripturam ex Paradiso manare originem. Ergo etiamsi non Cherubim ante Paradisum collocarentur, suffecisset ad abigendos homines flammeus gladius.

'But if it be objected to these things, that Enoch and Elijah, still living, were translated into Paradise: we say that the Lord God could indeed have translated them unharmed through the fire already mentioned — inasmuch as, in translating Elijah, he raised him by a fiery chariot. But Scripture nowhere gives to understand that he bore them into Paradise itself, where they might eat of the tree of life and live forever; but they were so taken up, that they were led into a certain secret region of the earth, where they might live in great quiet of flesh and spirit, until at the end of the world they return, and pay the debt of death.'¹⁰

Quod si obiicitur ad haec, Henoch & Eliam adhuc viventes in Paradisum esse translatos: dicimus, potuisse quidem Dominum Deum transferre illos illaesos per ignem iam dictum, quippe qui transferendo Eliam, per currum levavit igneum. Verum hoc nusquam Scriptura dat intelligi, quod illos tulerit in ipsum Paradisum ubi comederent de ligno vitae & viverent in aeternum: sed ita sublati sunt, ut in secreta quadam regione terra ducerentur, ubi in magna carnis & spiritus quiete viverent, quo ad finem mundi redeant, & mortis debitum solvant.

'Therefore not only the repulse of men — which alone the letter seems to sound by saying, To guard the way of the tree of life — but also judgments to be made, with rational discretion, about those to be admitted and not admitted, does the very name of "guard" signify, on account of which not only the flaming sword, but also the Cherubim, is said to keep watch. Some of the Doctors so distinguish, that they understand the flaming sword (that is, the fiery wall around Paradise) to have been placed on account of men, but the guard of Angels on account of the malignant spirits. To these we assent only so far as not to deny that a corporeal penal fire exists also for the malignant spirits. For the eternal fire, according to the Gospel truth, is prepared for the devil and his Angels. But the fire does not harm the holy Angels, inasmuch as justice made them impassible; nor the just souls, which the faith of the blood of the just God and man Jesus Christ commended and fortified.' Thus far are the words of Rupert.¹¹

Igitur non solum repulsam hominum, quod solum littera videtur sonare dicendo, Ad custodiendam viam ligni vitae, sed iudicia quoque de admittendis & non admittendis, rationabili discretione facienda, significat ipsum nomen custodiae ob quam non solus flammeus gladius, sed Cherubim quoque dicitur excubare. Aliqui Doctorum ita distinguunt, ut flammeum gladium, id est, murum igneum in circuitu Paradisi, propter homines: Angelorum vero custodiam, propter malignos spiritus positam esse intelligant. His ita dumtaxat assentimur, ut spiritibus quoque malignis ignem corporeum poenalem esse non negemus. Ignis namque aeternus, iuxta Evangelicam veritatem, paratus est diabolo & Angelis eius. Sanctis autem Angelis non nocet ignis, quippe quos impassibiles iustitia fecit: sed nec animabus iustis, quas mandavit & munivit fides sanguinis iusti Dei, & hominis Iesu Christi. Huc usque sunt verba Ruperti.