ARTICLE VI

CAN ANY MAN KNOW WHEN THE MOVEMENT OF THE HEAVENS WILL CEASE?

Sum. Th. Suppl., Q. lxxxviii, A. 3

THE sixth point of inquiry is whether man can know when the movement of the heavens will cease: and it would seem that this is impossible.

             1. According to Augustine (De Civ. Dei) the sixth age is from the coming of Christ to the end of the world. Now it is known how long the previous ages lasted. Therefore it is possible to know how long this age is to last, by comparing it with the others, and thus we can tell when the movement of the heavens will cease.

             2. The end of everything corresponds to its beginning. Now the beginning of the world has been known by revelation ever since Moses wrote: In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Therefore it is possible to know about the end of the world by revelation delivered to us in the Scriptures.

             3. It is said that the reason for our uncertainty about the end of the world is that man may ever be solicitous for the state of his soul. But the uncertainty about his death is enough to ensure that solicitude on his part. Therefore there was no need for uncertainty about the end of the world, except perhaps for the sake of those in whose lifetime the end of the world will come.

             4. It is related of some that they received a revelation of their approaching death, the Blessed Martin for instance. And Augustine says (Ep. ad Oros.) that each one will appear at the judgement as he was in death: so that there is the same reason for concealing the day of one's death as for hiding the day of judgement. Consequently the day of judgement which concerns all should have been revealed in the Scriptures whereby all are taught.

             5. A sign is intended for the purpose of making something known. Now certain signs of the Lord's coming at the end of the world are given in the Gospels (Matt. xxiv, Luke xxi) and by the Apostle (I Tim. iv, 2 Tim. iii, 2 Thess. ii). Therefore seemingly it is possible to know the time of the Lord's coming and of the end of the world.

             6. No man is reproved or punished here below for what does not lie in his power. Now in Scripture some are reproved and punished for ignorance of the times. Thus our Lord spoke to the Pharisees (Matt. xvi, 3): You know how to discern the face of the sky: and can you not know the signs of the times? and (Luke xix, 44) he says: They shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation. Again (Jerem. viii, 7): The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, the swallow and the stork have observed the time of their coming, but my people have not known the judgement of the Lord. Therefore the day of judgement or the time of the end of the world can be known.

             7. At his second coming Christ will appear more manifestly than at his first: since then every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him (Apoc. i, 7). Now his first coming was foretold in Scripture even as to the exact time of its happening (Dan. ix). Therefore one would think that his second coming also should have been foretold as to its precise date.

             8. Man is said to be a little world because he bears a likeness to the greater world. Now the end of a human life can be definitely foreseen. Therefore the end of the world can be foreknown.

             9. Great and small, long and short are relative terms whereby one thing is compared to another. Now the time from Christ's coming until the end of the world is described as being short, according to I Corinthians, vii, 29, Time is short, and again (ibid. x, 11), Upon whom the ends of the world are come, and (1 Jo. ii, 18), It is the last hour. Therefore this is said in comparison with the preceding time: and consequently at least it can be known that the time between Christ's coming and the end of the world is much shorter than from the beginning of the world to the coming of Christ.

             10. Augustine says (De Civ. Dei, xx, 16) that fire which will consume the surface of the earth at the end of the world will be caused by a conflagration of all the fires of the world. Now by observing the movement of the heavens it is possible to know how long it will take the heavenly bodies, which are the natural generators of heat in this lower world, to be in the most favourable position to bring about this result, so that this universal conflagration be effected by the concurrent action of the heavenly bodies and the fires of the lower world. Therefore it is possible to know when the end of the world will be.

             On the contrary it is said (Matt. xxiv, 36): Of that day and hour no one knoweth, no not the angels of heaven.

             Again, if this were to be revealed to anyone, especially should it have been revealed to the Apostles, who were appointed to teach the whole world. Yet when they asked about the final coming of the Lord they received the following answer (Act. i, 7): It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in his own power. Much less then was it revealed to others.

             Again, We are not forbidden to believe the revelation which we have received in the Scriptures. Now the Apostle (2 Thess. ii, 2) forbids us to believe any sort of announcement as if the day of the Lord were at hand. Therefore we must beware of the impostors who endeavour to foretell the time of the day of the Lord: hence he goes on to say: Let no man deceive you by any means.

             Again, Augustine says (Ad Hesych. ep. cxcix): Can we, I ask you, define the time of his coming, in such a way that at least we can say that he will come within, for instance, the next hundred years, or within any number of years greater or less? But we are entirely ignorant about this. Therefore we cannot know whether the end of the world will be within any given number of years, whether ten thousand or twenty thousand, or two or three.

             I answer that the exact time of the end of the world is utterly unknown, except to God and to Christ as man. The reason of this is that there are two ways in which we can know the future, by natural knowledge and by revelation. By natural knowledge we foresee certain future events in their causes which we see present, and from which we look forward to their effects--either with the certainty of science if the causes be such as to produce their effects of necessity, or by conjecture, if the causes be such as to produce their effects in the majority of cases, as an astronomer foresees a future eclipse, and a physician future death. In this way it is impossible to foreknow the exact time of the end of the world, because the cause of the heaven's movement and its cessation is no other but the will of God, as we have shown; and we cannot by our natural powers know that cause. Other results of the heaven's movement or of any other sensible cause can be foreknown by natural knowledge, such as the destruction of some particular part of the earth, which was hitherto inhabitable and afterwards becomes uninhabitable. By revelation however, though it be possible for it to be known if such were God's will, it is not becoming that it should be revealed except to Christ as man: and this for three reasons. First, because the world will not come to an end until the number of the elect is complete, which completion is as it were the fulfilment of the whole of divine predestination; wherefore it is not fitting that the end of the world should be revealed except to him who has received the revelation of the whole of divine predestination, that is to Christ as man, through whom the whole predestination of the human race is in a manner fulfilled. Wherefore it is said (Jo. v, 20): The Father loveth the Son and showeth him all things which himself doth.--Secondly, because through our not knowing how long the present state of the world will last, whether for a short or for a long time, we look upon the things of this world as though they were soon to pass away: wherefore it is said (1 Cor. vii, 31) They that use this world (let them be) as if they used it not, for the fashion of this world passeth away.--Thirdly that men may ever be prompt to look forward to God's judgement, through being in utter ignorance of its exact time, wherefore it is written (Mt. xxiv, 42): Watch . . . because you know not what hour your Lord will come. Hence, as Augustine says (Ad Hesych. ep. cxcix) he who says that he knows not when the Lord will come whether after a short or after a long time is in agreement with the words of the Gospel. And of two who say that they know, his is the more dangerous statement who says that Christ will come soon or that the end of the world is at hand, since this might occasion men to disbelieve in the end of the world if it fails to happen when it was foretold.

             Reply to the First Objection. As Augustine says (QQ. lxxxiii, qu. 57) the last age of the world corresponds to the last stage in a man's life, which does not last for a fixed number of years as the other stages do, but lasts sometimes as long as all the others together, and even longer. Wherefore the last age of the world cannot be assigned a fixed number of years or generations.

             Reply to the Second Objection. The revelation of the world's beginning was useful in showing that God is the cause of all things. But harm rather than good would result from knowledge of the end of the world: so that the comparison fails.

             Reply to the Third Objection. Man is naturally solicitous not only for himself but also for the good estate of the community whereof he is a part, for instance, of the household, or city or even of the whole world. Consequently in order that man might be on his guard there was need for both things to be hidden from him, the end of his own life and the end of the world.

             Reply to the Fourth Objection. The revelation of the end of one's own life is a particular revelation, while the revelation of the end of the whole world is connected with the revelation of the whole of divine predestination: so that the comparison fails.

             Reply to the Fifth Objection. These signs were given in order to declare the future end of the world at some time, but not the exact date of its end. Thus among those signs there are some that have been seen almost from the beginning of the world, for instance, that nation shall rise against nation and that there will be earthquakes in places, although these things will happen more frequently towards the end of the world; but in what measure, we cannot know.

             Reply to the Sixth Objection. This reproof of our Lord refers to those who knew not the time of his first coming, but not to those who are in ignorance of the time of his second coming.

             Reply to the Seventh Objection. Christ's first coming opened to us the way to merit by faith and the other virtues: hence on our part it was necessary for us to have knowledge of his first coming, so that by believing in him who was come we might obtain merit through his grace. But in his second coming rewards will be given according to merit, so that on our part it will be a question not of action or of knowledge but of receiving: wherefore there is no need for us to know the exact time of that coming. However, this day is said to be manifest, not as though it were clearly foreknown, but because it will be manifest when it comes.

             Reply to the Eighth Objection. The life of man's body depends on certain things already existing and of the material order, whence it is possible to have some foreknowledge of his coming end. It is not thus with the whole world: wherefore in this particular there is no comparison, although there are certain points in which man the lesser world is like the greater world.

             Reply to the Ninth Objection. These words of Scripture that would seem to indicate shortness of time or nearness of the end, are not so much to be referred to the amount of time as to a certain disposition of the present state of the world. For no other state will succeed that of the Law of the Gospel which has brought things to perfection, and succeeded the Old Law as the Old Law succeeded the Law of Nature.

             Reply to the Tenth Objection. This conflagration of the world-fires is not supposed to be the outcome of some natural cause, so that it be possible by observing the movement of the heavens to foresee when it will happen: but it will take place at the bidding of God's will.