VISIO SEPTIMA, cap. VII
The Serpent's Cunning and Humanity's Weakening
Human strength declined after the flood because humanity followed the devil, who deceives through serpentine cunning and flees when conquered.
But then the race advanced from one generation into another with lesser strength than human beings had before the flood, as was said earlier, because when the earth was changed, the strength of human beings too was changed and made weaker, since they had followed the ancient adversary, who had turned his own glory into serpentine ways, because the serpent is cunning in order to deceive the one he wants to deceive, and to flee from the one from whom he seeks to flee.1 So too the ancient enemy acts: when he overcomes someone, he deceives them through the treachery of the deadly venom of faithlessness, and when he is conquered by that person, he quickly flees, because he is trampled down by the very one he was cast down from heaven.✦✦2
The Fear of the Lord Against the Serpent's Breath
The fear of the Lord flourished so powerfully that it resisted the ancient serpent and kept divine forgetfulness from poisoning humanity as before the flood.
For that time flourished in the fear of the Lord to such a degree that it resisted the ancient serpent, so that the forgetfulness of God would not be poured into human beings through his poisonous breath, as it had been before the flood.3
The Rainbow Covenant and the Power of Judgment
God established the rainbow as a covenant sign after the flood, yet his awesome judgment will ultimately strike down all enemies with fire and storms at the end of mortal time.
For after the flood, God made a new earth with a new people, placing the rainbow as a sign in the clouds, so that the waters would no longer drown the whole earth and all peoples; showing also that all his enemies would know how great his power is in his awesome judgment over them.✦4 For the judgment of God has great power to strike down his enemies, who want to destroy the truth of his divinity, and with fire and great storms, after the fall of the son of perdition, he will bring the end of all mortal human beings, so that afterward nothing mortal will appear in any way.✦✦5
The Ages from the Flood to the Coming of the Lord
The next visionary image represents the era under the law from the flood to Christ's coming, with its changing times and the moral character of each generation.
The other image designates the time that was under the law after the flood, and the varieties of its diverse character — the distinctions of the times from the flood itself all the way to the coming of the Lord, or the end of the age — and the qualities of the morals of those who are in them or are yet to come.
Read the original Latin
Sed deinde genus in genus in minoribus viribus processit quam homines ante diluvium fuissent, ut praefatum est, quoniam cum terra immutata est, vires etiam hominum immutatae debiliores factae sunt, quia antiquam insidiatorem subsecuti fuerant, qui gloriam suam in serpentinos mores mutaverat, quoniam serpens astutus est ad decipiendum illum quem decipere vult, et ad fugiendum ab illo a quo fugere quaerit. Sic et antiquus hostis facit, cum illum quem superat per dolum mortiferi veneni infidelitatis decipit, et cum ab illo quo devincitur velociter fugit, quia per illum conculcatur, quemadmodum de coelo projectus est. Istud enim tempus in timore Domini ita floruit, quod antiquo serpenti restitit, ne per sufflatum suum oblivio Dei sicut ante diluvium fecerat homini infunderetur. Post diluvium namque Deus novam terram cum novo populo fecit, arcum pro signo in nubibus ponens; ne aquae omnem terram et omnes populos amplius suffocarent; ostendens etiam quod omnes inimici ejus cognoscerent quam magnam potestatem in tremendo judicio suo super eos haberet. Judicium quippe Dei magnam fortitudinem inimicos ejus ad percutiendum habet, qui veritatem divinitatis destruere volunt, atque cum igne magnisque tempestatibus post casum filii perditionis, finem omnium mortalium hominum faciet ita ut postmodum nullo modo quidquam mortale appareat.
Quod altera imago tempus illud quod post diluvium sub lege fuit designet, et varietates diversi habitus ejus, distinctiones temporum ab ipso diluvio usque ad adventum Domini, vel finem saeculi, et qualitates morum hominum qui in eis sunt vel futuri sunt significent.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.10.18;Rev.12.9 — He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning." Rev.12.9 — And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, the one called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
- ↩Gen.3.15 — I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
- ↩Gen.9.13 — I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
- ↩John.17.12;2Thess.2.3 — While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 2Thess.2.3 — Let no one deceive you in any way, because the rebellion must come first, and the man of lawlessness must be revealed—the son of destruction.
- ↩2Pet.3.10 — But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing roar, and the elements, being burned up, will be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it will be found.
Notes
- 1 ↩The image of the serpent's 'serpentine ways' (serpentinos mores) and the paradox that the ancient adversary both deceives and flees captures the traditional double motion of the devil as both attacker and fugitive.
- 2 ↩The paradox of the enemy both fleeing and being trampled reflects the traditional image of the devil's defeat through the cross; 'conculcatur' (trampled) echoes Genesis 3:15.
- 3 ↩'Sufflatum suum' (his breath/blowing) evokes the serpent's venomous influence as a spiritual poison; the image of forgetfulness of God being 'poured in' suggests an invasive, corrupting force.
- 4 ↩The rainbow covenant (Genesis 9) is here interpreted as both a sign of mercy and a warning to God's enemies of his judgment.
- 5 ↩'Filii perditionis' (son of perdition) is a traditional designation for the Antichrist or the damned one (cf. John 17:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:3); the passage describes the final judgment.
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