Dist. 48, Art. 1, Q. 4
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/48/q/bon-sent-IV-d48-a1-q4
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### Article I. *On the appearing of the Judge.*
### Question IV. *Whether the hour of the judgement is known to any creature.*

Fourthly it is asked concerning the hour of the judgement, and it is asked whether it is known to any creature. And that it is not, seems to be the case.

1. Matthew twenty-four: *But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the Angels who are in heaven, nor the Son:* therefore it seems that Christ did not know it: therefore much less do others know it.

2. Likewise, John fifteen: *All things whatsoever I have heard from my Father I have made known to you;* but he did not make this known to the Apostles: therefore Christ himself also did not know it.

3. Likewise, John sixteen: *When the Holy Spirit shall have come, he will teach you all truth;* but the Spirit, when he came, did not teach the Apostles this: therefore this is not knowable by any creature, because, if it were knowable, the Holy Spirit would have taught it.

4. Likewise, God revealed to the Prophets many things and things future, but he did not express the day and hour of the judgement through any prophecy except only through certain preliminary signs: therefore, since the Lord did not reveal it to the Prophets, it seems that he reserved it to himself alone.

**On the contrary:** 1. *Christ* did not advance nor can he advance in knowledge, as is said above in the third book, distinction thirteen: therefore if he is ever going to know it, he knows it now.

2. Likewise, concerning the *Angels* it seems so: Gregory: «What is there that they do not see, who see him who sees all things»? therefore it seems that they see it.

3. Likewise, it seems that it ought to have been revealed *to all:* because the particular judgement of each one is more to be feared than the general one, since he who escapes the one escapes the other also; but the day of death has been revealed to many, as is said of blessed Martin and blessed Benedict: therefore, etc.

4. Likewise, place and time are circumstances of a transaction; but the Lord has revealed to us the place of the judgement: therefore by parity of reasoning it seems that he has revealed the time also; or if not, why not?

### Conclusion

> *The hour of the judgement is known to the whole Trinity and to the assumed man, but unknown to all wayfarers; perhaps, however, it is known to some Angels and to some of the Blessed.*

**I respond:** It must be said that without doubt the hour of the day of judgement is known to the whole Trinity and to the assumed man, and is unknown to all existing in the state of wayfarers.

But about this there is contention among the doctors, whether it is known to the Angels and to the blessed souls. Some say that it is, some that it is not. — But certainly, what is to be held upon this matter, experience in its own place and time will teach better than knowledge now teaches; for either is possible. For since the knowledge of all things has been communicated to Christ alone, I do not see why the Angels cannot be ignorant of it, since this is not part of the substance of their glory; *again,* since they are familiars of God and can lose nothing in the knowledge of this matter, [I do not see] why it should not be fitting for it to be revealed to them. Yet it is not easy to define this. Hence, since some authorities of the Saints seem to sound as though the Angels know this, and some as though they are ignorant of it, it can soundly be said that this is known to some Angels and to some of the Blessed, and unknown to others; and as is said concerning the mystery of the incarnation, so also in that matter one must stand by this, that the hour of the judgement is known to some creature.

**To the arguments for the negative side:**

*To 1.* To that, then, which is objected, that no one knows it: it must be said that in that authority, as is clear from the Gloss, the *natural* Son is not excluded, but the *adoptive* one; nor are all the Angels excluded, but those who are *of the lower order;* nor are all men excluded, but only *mere men and wayfarers.* — Or it must be said that they do not know it, because they do not make it known to others, that is, they do not show that they know it, just as a pit is called *blind,* not because it does not see, but because what it has within itself it does not show to others.

*To 2, 3.* To that which is objected, that Christ and the Holy Spirit made all things known to the Apostles: it must be said that this is understood of the things necessary for salvation.

*To 4.* To that which is objected concerning the Prophets: it must be said that God did not reveal it to the Prophets, because it was not useful for us to know it, but it was highly useful to be ignorant of it, both on account of our own advantage and also on account of that which is said in James two: *So speak and so act, as beginning to be judged by the law of liberty.*

**To the arguments for the affirmative side:**

*To 4.* And thus it is clear why the Lord manifested to us the *place* of the judgement, but not the *time,* which was asked last with respect to the first part.

*To 2.* To that which is objected concerning the Angels, that they see all things: it must be said that this must be understood of those things which pertain to the integrity of their beatitude, not of their ministry.

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