Works, Book 1 · Discourse 4
DISCOURSE IV.
2 PETER 2. 4.
For if God spared not the Angels which sinned, [foreign ]—but cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto Iudgment, &c. so we translate it:
To which of S. Peter answers that of S. Iude, (as almost that whole Epistle doth to this) verse 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate, [or principality,] but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Iudgment of the great Day.
THese two places are brought to prove, That the Devils, or Evil spirits, are now in Hell, before the Day of Iudgment: Which I cannot see how it can possibly stand with the rest of the Scripture, which testifies every where that they have yet their mansion in the Air, and here about the Earth, where they tempt, seduce, and do all the mischief they can to mankind: hence their Chiestain Satan is styled The Prince of the power of the Air, Ephes. 2. 2.that is, of the Aiery Dominion or Princedom. Therefore hither they were with their Prince exiled from Heaven, and no further, nor shall be until the Day of Iudgment. And of this I shall speak at this time: First, to clear these Texts, which seem to make for the contrary; secondly, to enquire what was the opinion of the Ancients about this point.
As for this place of S. Peter, and that imitation thereof in the Epistle of S. Iude, I can believe the translation of neither. Piscator (not conceiving how that of S. Iude (especially because of the word [foreign] eternal) could be reconciled with other Scripture, and Experience which shews us that the Evil spirits are not yet bound with eternal chains, having so much liberty of gadding about) supplies in the Text vinciendos, as if there were an Ellipsis, reading it thus, Iudicio magni illius Diei vinculis aeternis (vinciendos) reservâsse; He hath reserved them (to be bound) in eternal chains at the Iudgment of the great Day.
In that of S. Peter, if I understand him, he takes foreign not for Dativus instrumenti; with chains of darkness, but as Dativus acquisitionis, for chains of darkness; and construes it with foreign, as if it were, He delivered them for chains of darkness; namely, supposing a trajection of the words.
But for my part I take both foreign in S. Peter, and foreign in S. Iude, to be neither of them Dativus Instrumenti, but both Acquisitionis or Finis, and governed the one of foreign, and the other of foreign that is, foreign to be put for foreign, and foreign for foreign—As in the Hebrew, the preposition foreign serves both for the preposition foreign and for the Dative Case, whose propriety the style of the Greek Testament every where imitates, and why not in this? foreign; therefore and foreign are here foreign, not foreign; for (not, with) chains. Nay, among the Greek Grammarians we find observed, that the Dative Case is sometimes put for the Accusative with the preposition foreign as in this example, foreign, that is, foreign much more in the sacred Greek, which so frequently imitates the Hebrew Construction.
Next for the word foreign in S. Peter, it is foreign, but once used, and so not bound by any use or example to the signification which we here give it, to wit, casting down to hell. I would therefore render it, ad poenas tartareas damnavit, he hath adjudged them to hellish torments, to wit, thus, Angelos qui peccaverunt, cum ad tartari supplicium damnasset, catenis caliginis servandos tradidit ad Diem Iudicii; Having adjudged the Angels that sinned to hell-torments, he delivered them to be kept or reserved (in the Aiery region,2 Pet. 2. 4. as in a prison) for chains of darkness at the Day of Iudgment. For foreign Iudgment here is foreign the Day of Iudgment, as S. Iude hath it: So also Matth. 12. 42. The Queen of the South shall rise in Iudgment with this Generation, that is, in or at the Day of Iudgment. Or if I would render it, not casting down to hell, but casting down to hell-ward, so the meaning in both places will be, That the wicked Angels were cast down from Heaven to this lower Orb, there to be reserved for chains of darkness at the Day of Iudgment: Which sense the ninth verse of this Chapter of S. Peter plainly intimates by way of reddition; Novit Dominus pios in tentatione cripere, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly in temptation, as he did Noah and Lot; Injustos verò in diem Iudicii cruciandos servare, But to reserve the unjust unto the Day of Iudgment to be punished, as he doth the wicked Angels. Moreover verse 17. where the same hellish darkness is spoken of, it is said to be reserved for the wicked, foreign , to whom that hideous darkness is reserved for ever; whence it is probable that S. Peter, in the foregoing passage of Angels, referred also those chains of darkness to reserving, and not to delivering; that is, not that the evil Angels were now already delivered to chains of darkness, but reserved for them at the Day of Iudgment.
AND thus much for clearing of the words of these two parallel Texts. Now what hath been anciently the current opinion about this point? And first, for the Iews, it is apparent to have been a Tradition of theirs, That all the space between the Earth and the Firmament is full of Troops of Evil spirits and their Chieftains having their residence in the Air; which I make no doubt but S. Paul had respect to, when he calls Satan the Prince of the power of the Air.Ephes. 2. 2. Drusius quotes two Authors, one the Book called foreign, another one of the Commentators upon Pirke Aboth, who speak in this manner; Debet homo scire & intelligere, à terra usque ad firmamentum omnia plena esse turmis & praefectis, &c. A man is to know and understand, that all from Earth to the Firmament is full (and no place is empty) of Troops of Spirits together with their Chieftains and such as are Praepositi; all which have their residence and fly up and down in the Air: some of them incite to peace, others to war; some to goodness and life, others to wickedness and death. By Praepositi, I suppose, he means such among the Spirits as are set as Wardens over several charges, for the managing of the affairs of mankind subject to their power. This was the Opinion of the Iews, which they seem to have learned by Tradition from their ancient Prophets; for in the Old Testament we find no such thing written, and yet we see S. Paul seems to approve it.
Now for the Doctors of the Christian Church, S. Hierome upon the sixth of the Ephesians tells us, that their Opinion was the same; 'Tis the opinion of all the Doctors, (…aith he) that the Devils have their Mansions and residence in the space between the heaven and the earth. And that the Fathers of the first 300 or 400 years nor did, nor could, hold the evil Angels to have been cast into Hell upon their sin, is evident by a singular Tenet of theirs. For Iustin Martyr, one of the most ancient, hath this saying; That Satan before the coming of Christ never durst blaspheme God, and that (saith he) because till then he knew not he should be damned. The same is approved by Irenaeus (lib. 5. cap. 26.) Praeclarè (saith he) dixit Iustinus, quòd ante Domini adventum Satanas nunquam ausus est blasphemare Deum, quippe nondum sciens suam damnationem: Post adventum autem Domini, ex sermonibus Christi & Apostolorum ejus discens m…nifestè quoniam ignis aeternus ei praeparatus sit;—per hujusmodi homines blasphemat eum Deum qui judicium importat. It was a worthy saying of Iustin, That Satan before the coming of our Lord never durst blaspheme God, as not till then knowing he should be damned: But after the coming of our Lord, he clearly understanding by the Discourses of Christ and his Apostles that everlasting fire was prepared for him—by these men (Irenaeus means those Hereticks who blasphemed the God of the Law) he blaspemes that God who brings that punishment upon them. Eusebius (lib. 4. Hist. Cap. 17.) cites the same out of both, with approbation: So doth Oecumenius upon the last Chapter of the first of S. Peter. Epiphanius against Heresie 39. gives the same as his own assertion, almost in the same words with Iustin and Irenaeus, though not naming them. foreign , &c. Before the coming of Christ the Devil did not dare to speak a blasphemous word against his Lord; for being in expectation of the coming of Christ, he imagined he should obtain some mercy. I will not enquire how true this Tenet of theirs is, but only gather this, that they could not think the Devils were cast into Hell before the coming of Christ: For then how could they but have known they should be damned, if the execution had already been done upon them?
Saint Augustine, as may seem, intending to reconcile these places of Peter and Iude with the rest of Scripture, is alledged to affirm, that the Devils suffering some Hell-like torment in their Aiery Mansion, the Air may in that respect in an improper sense be called Hell. But that the Devils were locally or Actually in Hell, or should be, before the Day of Iudgment, it is plain he held not; and that will appear by these two passages in his Book de Civitate Dei. First, where he saith, Daemones in hoc quidem aere habitant, quia de Coeli superioris sublimitate dejecti, merito irregressibilis transgressionis, in hoc sibi congruo velut carcere praedamnati sunt. Lib. 8. Cap. 22. The Devils indeed have their habitation in this Air; for they being cast out of the highest heaven, through the due desert of their unrecoverable apostasie and transgression, are fore-condemned and adjudged to be kept in this Aiery region, as in a prison very congruous and fit for such transgressors. The other (in the same Book, chap. 23.) where he expounds that of the Devils*Vide…tur etiam Orig…, in Numer. cap. 22. Non vuit Deus Daemo…umgenus an… temsus damna…; Sciu… enim & ipsi Daemones, quia tempus eorum praesens hoc seculum continet: Proptevea & Dominum rog…bant, ut non torqueret eos ante tempus, &c. Et ob hoc neque Diabolum removit à principatu hujus seculi… &c. Matth. 8. Art thou come to torment us before the time? that is, (saith he) ante tempus Iudicii, quo aeternâ damnatione puniendi sunt, cum omnibus etiam hominibus qui eorum societate detinentur; before the time of the last Iudgment, when they are to be eternally punished, together with all those men who are entangled in their society.
The Divines of latter times, the School-men and others, to reconcile the supposed Contrariety in Scripture, divide the matter; holding some Devils to be in the Air, (as S. Paul and the History of Scripture tell us,) some to be already in Hell, (as they thought S. Peter and S. Iude affirm'd:) which opinion seems to be occasioned by a Quaere of S. Hierom's upon the sixth of the Ephesians, though he speaks but obscurely, and defines nothing. But what ground of Scripture or Reason can be given, why all the Devils which sinned, should not be in the same Condition? especially that Satan, the worst and chief of them, should not be in the worst estate, but enjoy the greatest liberty? It follows therefore that these places of S. Peter and S. Iude are to be construed according to the sense I have given of them; namely, That the evil Spirits which sinned, being adjudged to Hellish torments, were cast out of Heaven into this lower Region, there to be reserved, as in a prison, for chains of darkness at the Day of Iudgment.