Caput XXXVIII
The Boiling Forth of Iniquity
As the world presses toward its end, iniquity abounds and men grow ever more perverse, so that the very order of things is confounded by their merits.
It is for this reason that iniquity boils forth all the more abundantly — as Isaiah says — because truth will be forgotten, and justice stands far off. For, as we have already said, dangerous times have come, and the world is pressed toward its end.✦ And since that end depends on its own order, it will find men yet more perverse — men who are both crushed worthily by the ruin of that very order and by whose merits, in turn, the same order of things is confounded.
God Hands Them Over to Their Desires
Because men loved darkness after grace was revealed and neglected the justice they knew, God justly hands them over to the desires of their own hearts and blinds them further.
There is also another reason: because after grace was revealed, men loved darkness rather than light, and they were called — as the prophet says — but did not answer, and they chose what the Lord did not will; and though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God. For this reason, God will hand them over to the desires of their own heart, just as the Apostle says of certain people: 'That they may fill up their sins always; and he who is in filth, let him become filthy still' (1 Thess.).✦✦✦ 2, 16). And because, though enlightened, they neglected to do what is just, they have been justly blinded — so that they may go on doing things by which they deserve to be punished all the more.
The Path of Wrath and the Release of Satan
The Lord makes a path for his wrath so that hearts weighed down by former sins are deceived by evil angels, even as the Apocalypse foretells Satan's release after the thousand years.
To bring this about — and the assaults sent through evil angels — the Lord, according to the Psalmist, makes a path for his wrath, so that a heart weighed down by its former merits he justly allows to be deceived also by the subsequent persuasions of malign spirits. Hence it is said in the Apocalypse: 'When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released' (Apoc.✦ 20, 7).
The Devil's Last and Fiercest Assault
At the close of the age the devil rages with all his strength like a beast let loose, growing ever more ferocious as he senses his time is short, just as the Apocalypse declares.
Because, you see, he is now allowed to exert himself to the very end of the age with all his strength — whether for the benefit of the elect or for the damage of the reprobate — all the more fiercely than he had done before, by as much as a beast let loose is more violent than one that's bound.✦ For then he becomes all the more ferocious in his savagery, the closer he senses himself to be to punishment. For he sees that the end is near, so that he may lose the freedom of his most wicked liberty; and the more his time is narrowed by its brevity, the more he spreads himself out in an abundance of cruelty. Just as it is said of him by an angelic voice to John: Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time (Apoc.✦ XII, 12).
The Mystery of Iniquity Unleashed
The devil rushes into the fury of damnation, devises every wickedness, and now works the mystery of iniquity so openly that the entire order of religious life is overturned and wickedness no longer blushes with shame.
Then therefore he throws himself into the fury of great wrath, so that he who could not stand in blessedness rushes into the pit of his own damnation with only a few others. Then the cunning one seeks out whatever wickedness he has been able to devise. That these times have now come, and that the wicked enemy is already working the mystery of iniquity, is made clearly evident by this: that the entire order of religious life and of Christianity has been overturned, and wickedness no longer even deigns to blush with shame, but strengthened by the abundance of the wicked, it seems to have raised its head everywhere in every place.✦
Read the original Latin
Ob hoc autem iniquitas undatius ebullit, ut Isaias ait, quia veritas in oblivione erit, et longe justitia stat; quia, sicut jam diximus, tempora periculosa venerunt, et fine suo mundus urgetur. Qui finis cum ex ipso suo ordine pendeat, perversiores tamen quosque inventurus est, qui et illius ruinis digne comprimantur et ex illorum meritis versa vice ejusdem ordo rerum confundatur. Est quoque et alia ratio, quia pro eo quod homines post revelatam gratiam dilexerunt magis tenebras quam lucem, et vocati sunt, ut ait propheta, et non responderunt, et quae noluit Dominus elegerunt, et cognoscentes Deum non sicut Deum glorificaverunt, propter hoc tradet illos Deus in desideria cordis sui, sicut de quibusdam Apostolus dicit: Ut impleant peccata sua semper, et qui in sordibus est, sordescat adhuc (I Thess. II, 16). Et quia illuminati justa agere neglexerunt, juste caecati adhuc faciant unde amplius puniri mereantur. Ad quod videlicet agendum, et immissiones per angelos malos juxta Psalmistam, Dominus semitam irae suae facit, ut cor prioribus meritis aggravatum juste permittat etiam subsequentibus malignorum spirituum persuasionibus falli. Unde in Apocalypsi dicitur: Cum completi fuerint mille anni, solvetur Satanas (Apoc. XX, 7).
Quia videlicet vel ad utilitatem electorum, vel ad detrimentum reproborum tanto acrius quam antea fecisset, in totis viribus suis se in finem saeculi exercere permittitur, quanto soluta bestia violentior est quam ligata. Tunc enim fit tanto ferventior ad saevitiam, quanto se viciniorem sentit ad poenam. Considerat namque quod juxta sit, ut licentiam nequissimae libertatis amittat; et quanto brevitate temporis angustatur, tanto multiplicitate crudelitatis expanditur. Sicut de illo voce angelica dicitur ad Joannem: Vae terrae, et mari, quia descendit diabolus ad vos habens iram magnam, sciens quod modicum tempus habet (Apoc. XII, 12). Tunc ergo in magnae irae furorem se dilatat; ne qui in beatitudine stare non potuit, in damnationis suae foveam cum paucis ruit. Tunc quidquid nequiter valuerit callidus exquirit. Haec itaque tempora jam venisse, jamque malignum hostem mysterium iniquitatis operari per hoc manifeste patet, quod omnis ordo religionis aut Christianitatis immutatus est, nec impietas jam erubescere saltem dignatur, sed iniquorum multiplicitate roborata caput ubique locorum extulisse videatur
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.59.14-Isa.59.15 — Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. Isa.59.15 — Truth is gone, and whoever turns from evil is prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him, because there was no justice.
- ↩Isa.65.12;Jer.7.13 — Therefore I will destine you for the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter; because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen. You did what was evil in my eyes, and chose what I did not delight in. Jer.7.13 — And now, because you have done all these deeds—declares the LORD—and I spoke to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not listen; and I called you, but you did not answer.
- ↩Rom.1.21-Rom.1.24 — For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Rom.1.22 — Claiming to be wise, they became fools, Rom.1.23 — and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image resembling corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. Rom.1.24 — Therefore God gave them over, in the lusts of their hearts, to impurity, so that their bodies were dishonored among themselves.
- ↩2Thess.2.11-2Thess.2.12 — And for this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, so that they may believe the lie. 2Thess.2.12 — so that all who did not believe the truth but delighted in unrighteousness might be condemned.
- ↩Rev.20.7 — And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,
- ↩Rev.20.7 — And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,
- ↩Rev.12.12 — Therefore rejoice, O heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.
- ↩2Thess.2.7 — For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only the one who now restrains will do so until he is removed.
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