Chapter 24.—Of the Church in Its Likeness to a Vine Sprouting and Suffering Pruning.

44. “But that vine, which was spreading forth its fruitful shoots throughout the circle of lands, according as had been prophesied with regard to it, and as had been foretold by the Lord Himself, sprouted all the more luxuriantly in proportion as it was watered with richer streams of the blood of martyrs. And as these died in behalf of the truth of the faith in countless numbers throughout all lands, even the persecuting kingdoms themselves desisted, and were converted to the knowledge and worship of Christ, with the neck of their pride broken. Moreover it behoved that this same vine should be pruned in accordance with the Lord’s repeated predictions,155    John xv. 2 and that the unfruitful twigs should be cut out of it, by which heresies and schisms were occasioned in various localities, under the name of Christ, on the part of men who sought not His glory but their own; whose oppositions, however, also served more and more to discipline the Church, and to test and illustrate both its doctrine and its patience.

45. “All these things, then, we now perceive to be realized precisely as we read of them in predictions uttered so long before the event. And as the first Christians, inasmuch as they did not see these things literally made good in their own day, were moved by miracles to believe them; so as regards ourselves, inasmuch as all these things have now been brought to pass exactly as we read of them in those books which were written a long time previous to the fulfillment of the things in question, wherein they were all announced as matters yet future, even as they are now seen to be actually present, we are built up unto faith, so that, enduring and persevering in the Lord, we believe without any hesitation in the destined accomplishment even of those things which still remain to be realized. For, indeed, in the same Scriptures, tribulations yet to come are still read of, as well as the final day of judgment itself, when all the citizens of these two states shall receive their bodies again, and rise and give account of their life before the judgment-seat of Christ. For He will come in the glory of His power, who of old condescended to come in the lowliness of humanity; and He will separate all the godly from the ungodly,—not only from those who have utterly refused to believe in Him at all, but also from those who have believed in Him to no purpose and without fruit. To the one class He will give an eternal kingdom together with Himself, while to the other He will award eternal punishment together with the devil. But as no joy yielded by things temporal can be found in any measure comparable to the joy of life eternal which the saints are destined to attain, so no torment of temporal punishments can be compared to the everlasting torments of the unrighteous.

CAPUT XXIV.

44. Ecclesia quasi vitis pullulat, et putatur. Ex iis quae videntur impleta, credantur praedicta quae restant implenda, praesertim judicium futurum. Sed illa vitis quae per orbem terrarum, sicut de illa prophetatum, et ab ipso Domino praenuntiatum erat, fructuosos palmites diffundebat, tanto pullulabat amplius, quanto uberiore martyrum sanguine rigabatur. Quibus per omnes terras innumerabiliter pro fidei veritate morientibus, etiam ipsa persequentia regna cesserunt, et ad Christum cognoscendum atque venerandum fracta superbiae cervice conversa sunt. Oportebat autem ut eadem vitis, sicut a Domino identidem praedictum erat, putaretur, et ex ea praeciderentur infructuosa sarmenta (Joan. XV, 2), quibus haereses et schismata per loca facta sunt, sub Christi nomine, non ipsius gloriam, sed suam quaerentium, per quorum adversitates magis magisque exerceretur Ecclesia, et probaretur atque illustraretur et doctrina ejus et patientia.

45. Omnia ergo haec, sicut tanto ante praedicta legimus, sic et facta cognoscimus: et quemadmodum primi christiani, quia nondum ista provenisse videbant, miraculis movebantur ut crederent; sic nos quia omnia ista ita completa sunt, sicut ea in Libris legimus, qui longe antequam haec implerentur conscripti sunt, ubi omnia futura dicebantur, et praesentia jam videntur, aedificamur ad fidem, ut etiam illa 0342 quae restant, sustinentes et perseverantes in Domino, sine dubitatione ventura credamus. Siquidem adhuc tribulationes futurae in eisdem Scripturis leguntur, et ipse ultimus judicii dies, ubi omnes cives ambarum illarum civitatum receptis corporibus surrecturi sunt, et rationem vitae suae ante tribunal Christi judicis reddituri. Veniet enim in claritate potestatis, qui prius in humilitate humanitatis venire dignatus est; et omnes pios ab impiis segregabit: non tantum eis qui in eum credere omnino noluerunt, sed etiam eis qui frustra et infructuose crediderunt in eum; illis daturus regnum secum aeternum, illis autem poenam aeternam cum diabolo. Sed sicut nullum gaudium rerum temporalium ex aliqua parte simile potest inveniri gaudio vitae aeternae, quam sancti accepturi sunt; ita nullus cruciatus poenarum temporalium potest sempiternis iniquorum cruciatibus comparari.