De judiciaria potestate in finali et universali judicio
by Richard of Saint Victor
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://migne.app/pl/196/de-judiciaria-potestate-in-finali-et-universali-judicio/
----------------------------------------

## On Judiciary Power in the Final and Universal Judgment

[1177C] *In the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit upon twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel [n: (Matth. XIX)]*. Behold, we have heard what Truth himself promises to the apostolic men. But let us hear further what he says in another place: *He who does not believe,* he says, *is already judged [n: (Joan. III)]*. From this twofold Scripture, unless I am mistaken, arises that opinion: that there are four orders of those who come to that fearful judgment. For from that first saying three orders are gathered — those who will judge, those who will be judged and saved, those who will be judged and damned. To these three, according to the other saying, a fourth order is joined: those already judged and damned. But if such men are called "already judged" for this reason, that their damnation is held certain, I do not sufficiently see why we should not add a fifth order to these four which we have already [1177D] named. For the salvation of little children who die immediately after baptism is as certain as the damnation of unbelievers is certain — unless perhaps someone should wish to attribute the highest grade of perfection to those who never had any merit of their own, and to number them in the order of those who judge. But I say: if certain men who are still in this life are called already judged, why should not those who have already received the sentence of their damnation much more rightly be called already judged? For not only those who do not believe descend to hell immediately after death. But if anyone should contend that they alone descend to hell before the general [1178C] judgment, he will at least not dare to deny this: namely, that all, at the departure of the soul, receive either a good or a bad sentence, and that each one goes either to punishment or into refreshment. But those who are to be punished and yet saved are purged by the very fact that they are punished. Whence that fire too is called purgatorial, by which the rust of sin is consumed in them. And those who are punished and purged recognize, by that very thing, that they are reserved for salvation, in that they see themselves gradually cleansed from every stain. But the rest recognize the sentence of their damnation by this very thing, that they receive no remedy of purgation. The salvation or damnation of any of the dead, therefore, although it is uncertain among us, nevertheless seems certain among them. If, then, those who have not yet [1178D] received the recompense of their merits are rightly called already judged, why not much more those who have already received it, and have most certainly recognized, as has been said, the sentence of their salvation or damnation? Who, then, are those who are said to be judged by the apostolic men? If we say that it is only those who will be found alive at the coming of the Savior, and have not yet received any sentence of their recompense, John's opinion contradicts us in this, who writes in his Apocalypse: *And the sea,* he says, *gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them, and it was judged of every one according to their works* [1179A] [n: (Apoc. XX)]. Behold, you hear that death and hell gave up the dead that were in them, so that it might be judged of every one according to their works. You perhaps thought that only those were to be judged in that final examination whose salvation or damnation stands uncertain. But whose damnation, I ask, is more certain than that of the malignant spirits? But what does the Apostle say of them: *Know you not that we shall judge angels? [n: (I Cor. VI.)]* Behold, they are said to be judged, who nevertheless in some respect are rightly called already judged. See, then, whether perhaps in like manner those too who are now called already judged may rightly be said to be still to be judged. Or do you perhaps seek that this very thing be proved to you yet further? *The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds; they shall judge nations [n: (Sap. V)]*. What could be plainer? They shall judge nations. Are these not the ones who [1179B] do not believe, and therefore are already judged? So it seems that all are either to judge or to be judged; and of those to be judged, some are to be saved, others to be damned. It seems, then, that in that future judgment there are only three orders. How then four, or rather five? But to say nothing of the rest: why are even those judged again whose damnation — I will not say is foreknown, but is most rightly believed already begun? And in what way will the apostles judge those who are without doubt to be judged by them? Or are we perhaps to say that this is what it is for the apostles to pass judgment: for the damned, because they are to be damned; for the saved, because they are to be saved? But what great thing will it be to say to them that they will be damned [1179C] — to them, I say, who have known the sentence of their damnation, or have even received it? But perhaps you say that this is what it is for the apostolic men to judge each of their inferiors: to discern, from the inspection of the conscience of each, how justly these are saved and those are damned. For how is God believed to make manifest on that day the hidden things of darkness, except that he will without doubt reveal the innermost and secret things of consciences? That judgment, therefore, will not consist in an altercation of words, but in the manifestation of thoughts: *their conscience,* according to the Apostle, *bearing witness to them, and their thoughts among themselves mutually accusing, or also defending one another, in the day when the Lord shall judge the hidden things of men [n: (Rom. II.)]* But without doubt, at the inspection of mutual consciences, [1179D] just as it will be plain to the apostles how rightly the reprobate are damned, so it will be plain to the reprobate how rightly the apostles are glorified. As, therefore, the apostles are said to judge the reprobate, why should not the reprobate too be rightly said to judge the apostles? Or are we perhaps to say that the good see the consciences of the wicked, but the wicked do not see the consciences of the good? But if all the good mutually behold one another's consciences, why, according to the aforesaid manner of judging, will they not judge one another? As, therefore, the lower are judged by the higher, so the higher will be judged by the lower. Or will the more perfect perhaps see the consciences of the lower, but the lower not see the consciences of the perfect? But if all the higher will see the consciences of the lower, then surely all the good [1180A] will see the consciences of the wicked. Why then are not all the elect said to judge the reprobate, just as the apostles are? But if, to their greater confusion, the consciences of the wicked will lie open to all, why should not, equally, to their greater glory, the consciences of the good lie open to all? How, then, will they not judge one another, who will see one another outwardly and inwardly? What, then, is promised to the apostles as though it were something great, when it is said to them by the Lord: *You also shall sit, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.*

From this perplexity of opinions, therefore, it is clear, as I judge, under how great a wrapping the truth lies hidden in all these matters. First of all, then, it must be known that judgment is considered in one way [1180B] insofar as it is engaged in thought alone, and in another way insofar as it is carried out in deed. The former belongs to foreknowledge, the latter, so to speak, to experience. The former to cognition, the latter to execution. The former belongs to the present life, the latter to the life to come. That judgment, then, which is called of foreknowledge does not impede that in which there is the execution of the sentence. That, therefore, which belongs to the present life does not do away with that which belongs to the life to come; indeed, if the latter were not to come, the former would be nothing. If, then, you consider the judgment of the present Church according to the manner of this life, you will find four orders, or rather five. For, excepting those whom she knows rise into the place of judges, she is certain of the damnation of some, [1180C] certain of the salvation of some; and of those concerning whom she has no certain sentence, she knows that some belong to life, others to death. But as regards the final examination of the life to come, only three orders are found. Some judge but are not judged; some are judged and saved; some are judged and damned. Now you see, as I judge, how rightly even those who are already called judged are said to be still to be judged. For the judgment which is foreknown in the present is imposed in the future. But this will perhaps still be marvelous to some: that those who after death have received recompense according to the quality of their merits are still to come to judgment, and to be judged according to their merits — especially those who both recognized [1180D] and received the sentence of their damnation. It must therefore be known that judgment is sometimes according to a part, sometimes according to fullness. It is according to a part when it deals with the quality of the sentence alone, and not with its quantity. Such is the judgment of the present Church. For we know the quality of the sentence (namely, whether they are to be damned or to be saved) concerning certain persons, but in this life we cannot know the quantity of the punishments even of any single damned person. But that judgment which follows a man's death will surely be dispensed not only in quality, but also in quantity, according to the measure of merits. And the quantity of the recompenses will be regulated both according to multitude and according to magnitude. According to multitude, so that where the fault was manifold, there too there may be a manifold [1181A] punishment. According to magnitude, so that in each kind of sinning, where the fault was greater, there too the punishment may be more intense. The judgment of this life, then, seems uniform; for it is, as we have said, about the quality of the sentence alone. But that which is given at a man's death seems to be multiform, yet not omniform. For although it is measured according to the whole life of a man, it is not according to the whole of what belongs to a man. For although each one at death receives according as he has done in the body, he nevertheless receives it in the soul alone, and not in soul and body together. See, then, what lies between this second and that third and last judgment. This, which takes place at the death of each individual, and that, which is to be at the common resurrection of all. This, as has been said, [1181B] deals with the whole life of a man, yet not according to the whole of what belongs to a man. But that last judgment will be about the whole, and according to the whole. This takes place with some and before some; that will take place concerning all at once and before all. See how rightly he is confounded before the whole company, who here did not fear to offend the Lord of the whole. See how rightly he is glorified before all, who glorified the Lord of the whole in all things. See how rightly the head of perdition receives before all the ignominy of his casting-down, who from the beginning toiled at the casting-down of all. But consider how fitting, or, so to speak, how necessary, that last judgment is. Often we reproach the divine judgments as though unjust; [1181C] often we murmur against his scourges. There, when the apostolic men judge, it will be made public before the whole company how just the Lord is in all his ways and holy in all his works. That last judgment, then, will be in every respect most full, so that it may sufficiently answer to the consciences of each, and of all together. It will therefore be omniform, being able to satisfy all things. Let the first, then, be called uniform, the second multiform, the third omniform. The first and second judgments are according to a part, but the third alone will be according to fullness. For although the second is much fuller than the first, yet the third will be incomparably fuller than that. As, then, the first requires the second, so the second requires the third.



## On Judiciary Power in the Final and Universal Judgment (cont.)

[1181D]It remains only to ask what is that manner of judging which is promised to the apostles, when it is said: *You also shall sit, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,* or that: *The saints shall judge nations and shall rule over peoples [n: (Sap. III)]*. Let us see, then, what John says of this judgment when he writes in his Apocalypse: *And I saw,* he says, *the dead, great and small, standing in the sight of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works [n: (Apoc. XX)]*. What do we understand by these books, if not the consciences of individuals? The opening of the books, therefore, is the manifestation of consciences. In these books is inscribed whatever is retained by them in memory. In these books is held as though written whatever is [1182A] comprehended by them with full understanding. In some such books, then, are contained human merits, but in others also the divine judgments. In the former, the quality of actions; in the latter, the quality also of recompenses. For each one bears in his heart, as it were written, that whereby his conscience accuses or defends him. But those who attend upon divine contemplation, who daily read in the book of Wisdom, transcribe, as it were into the volumes of their hearts, whatever they now comprehend with a clear understanding of the truth. What, then, are the consciences of those to be judged, if not, so to speak, certain written actions? But what are the hearts of those who judge, taught by God into all truth, if not, as it were, the decrees of canons? From this twofold Scripture every sentence is drawn, [1182B] whereby any of those to be judged is damned or absolved. For those to be judged to open the books of their actions before the judges is nothing else than to be unable to hide their consciences from them. And for the judges to read in such volumes is nothing else than to penetrate by manifest vision the hidden things of consciences, and to recognize without doubt by what merit each is strong or is defiled. But for the judges to open before those to be judged the books of their decrees is to admit the sight of any of the lower to the inspection of their hearts, and to reveal their understanding in those things which pertain to the reckoning of judgment. But those to be judged, while they read in such decrees, as it were, of canons, find the sentence of recompense, and the reason of the sentence which [1182C] each one deserves. To read such writing, then, this will be for them to have received the sentence of judgment. And this will be for the apostolic men to judge any of those to be judged: to press upon their eyes the reason of the sentence to be given. Certainly, if I had an ear open to the word of the heart as I have to the word of the mouth, you could surely teach me by thought alone whatever you wished of your secrets. For to think the things to be taught would be to teach, and to have understood one thinking the things to be taught would be to have learned the things to be learned. Now everything that is said by a person of sense is thought before it is said. When a question, then, has been proposed, to think the solution would be to solve the question, if we could see one another's thoughts. See how easy teaching would be if we had an ear open to the thought of another's heart — [1182D] how much more if we had an eye open to its understanding? Attend to what I say. It is one thing to see a thought, and far another to see the understanding. I have many things in knowledge which I do not now have in thought. And there are countless things about which I hold a sure and ready opinion, about which I now think nothing. In such matters, however, when it pleases me, I can see my own understanding and bring it into consideration. What goes on in my heart goes on, unless I am mistaken, in yours also. If, then, I could see your heart as it sees itself, often from the mere contemplation of your understanding the ignorance of my heart could be instructed, and what is now done by the word of the mouth would then be done by the word of the heart. For what is it for the heart to speak, if not to think thus? The word of the heart, therefore, is the judgment [1183A] of the understanding. To have seen and understood the judge's sentence by the inspection of his heart, then, is to have given and received judgment. Will not, in that last examination, the conscience of those to be judged, even by keeping silence, profess before those who are to judge: such and such is my fault? Will not the understanding of those who judge, before those to be judged, even by keeping silence, testify that for such and such a fault such and such a punishment is due? For what is this confession or attestation, if not the mutual revelation of consciences or understandings to one another?

You who hear these things perhaps marvel. Hear further that at which you may marvel yet more. Certainly, if we could read one another's understandings by turns in each other's hearts, a hundred men could consult you at one and the same time about [1183B] different questions and receive an answer. Would it not be the same for each to have received the solution of the question proposed, and to have read in your heart the sure truth of your opinion? Nothing, then, prevents that, in the last examination, even with any single one judging, different men should receive different sentences for different causes at once and in the same moment. Otherwise, how will twelve men be able to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, unless perhaps you think that they spend much time on this business? Or perhaps, because there are many who come together into the number of those who judge, are they to be supposed to divide the office among themselves, and in such a manner or order to hasten the business? But how small, I ask, is the number of those who judge in comparison with those to be judged? [1183C] But why do we not believe concerning invisible things what we prove in visible things by the testimony of likeness? Certainly, if the solutions of many questions were written in a single volume, and it were unfolded before many inspectors, and read by different men through different questions, at one and the same moment it could, at once and in the same time, satisfy different men as to different things, and loose the knots of doubts. Why, then, should it not be believed that an incorporeal page inscribed by the finger of God can furnish to incorporeal eyes what a corporeal page written by a human finger is proved to furnish to corporeal eyes? To this you perhaps say: Behold, let us grant that one and the same judge can satisfy many men for their individual causes, according to the reasoning of the likeness shown, in [1183D] the same moment of time. But is it equally to be granted that one and the same man can, at once and together, both render an account for all that he has done, and receive for each the sentence of recompense? For we have testimony from the Gospel: that we must render an account even for every idle word [n: (Matth. XII)]. But if we believe that we answer for individual words or deeds, thoughts, and wills one by one and in succession, how much time, I ask, must be spent in the examination of one who, as it is written, is known to have lived nine hundred years and more? But we marvel at whatever, or even scarcely believe, we have not [1184A] experienced. We marvel, surely, inasmuch as we meanwhile do not see the consciences of others, and know our own only by groping, and only in part. Certainly, if it happens that someone enters any house amid the dense darkness of the night-time, he can, even by groping, detect many of the things that lie hidden there. But if another comes upon him and enters with a lamp, consider how many are the things that he can show to himself and to others in one simple glance — not only of those which he could scarcely come to know by groping over much time, but also of those which he could in no way detect by groping.



## On Judiciary Power in the Final and Universal Judgment (cont.)

For, to say nothing of the rest: when shall we be able to distinguish by groping between white and black, between the comely and the misshapen, which by the light of a lamp we discern [1184B] at once, at the very first glance? And what are the hearts of the perfect, illumined by the splendor of divine wisdom, if not kindled lamps? Of these lamps the Lord threatens where he speaks through the prophet: *At that time I will search the houses of Jerusalem with lamps [n: (Soph. I)]*. Jerusalem means the same as *vision of peace.* The houses of Jerusalem, then, are secure consciences: for these are they which seem to have inward peace. What, then, will become of the houses of Babylon, when even the houses of Jerusalem are to be searched with lamps? What will become of foul and desperate consciences, if the presumption of confidence is taken away even from those falsely secure? The houses of Jerusalem, then, are said to be searched through by the Lord, because in those consciences too which [1184C] seemed secure to themselves nothing hidden, nothing unexamined will be left that is not convicted by the light of truth. And this searching of the houses with lamps the Lord declares he will make, because he will execute the judgment even of the most hidden thoughts and wills by the ministry of those whom the highest understanding of truth has inwardly illumined for the examination of every judgment. A certain splendor of the divine light, therefore, will radiate from the hearts of the perfect, which will lay bare to each one, by manifest vision, all the good or evil things that lay hidden in his heart. Consider, then, how now, at the pouring-in of this corporeal light, one at once surveys all the things that are in one's house, and detects not only the quantity but the quality of things in one simple glance. But it is agreed that that [1184D] incorporeal light is much more excellent, much more efficacious in its own kind, than this one is or can be in its kind. It is too little, then, that I said that that incorporeal ray fully shows individuals to themselves — indeed, both to themselves and to others. We see how, at the first ray of the emerging sun, all things which blind night had taken away from the eyes of all it restores again to the eyes of all — how at once all things lie open that before lay hidden. Scarcely yet do the peaks of the mountains receive the ray of light, and already, from the reverberation of the light which they pour back into the valleys, all things that are there, all things that are done there, are laid open to all. So indeed, so the highest and perfect men, founded in perpetual stability, [1185A] magnified with stupendous sublimity and truly eternal mountains, receive immediately the ray of divine wisdom, and from the received, so to speak, reverberation which they spread on every side, bring into the light, in a moment of time, all things that must be made manifest for the reckoning of judgment. Hence is that which you hear in the Psalms: *Thou dost enlighten wonderfully from the eternal mountains [n: (Psal. LXXV)]*. Now, as I judge, you weigh in part how this illumination from the eternal mountains is, without any ambiguity, wonderful. For from that light of divine splendor which they receive immediately, by pouring it back to lower things, they show to any of those to be judged, with no doubtful vision, the quality both of merits and of recompenses. Certainly we who are still in this life, when we wish to enlighten some, cannot enlighten many [1185B] as to the same thing, but different men as to different things, at one and the same time. But if we cannot at once and at the same time instruct different men as to different things, how much less one and the same man as to many and greatly differing things? Consider, then, how wonderful is that illumination where, under one vision, in the greatest multitude, any individual is enlightened at once and together as to countless things. But this dilation of the mind, by which the human soul is dilated in the light of God to comprehend so many things under one vision — because we cannot for the present prove it by experience, we believe with difficulty. Here occurs that which the venerable Pope Gregory writes of blessed Benedict [n: (lib. II Dialog., cap. 35)]. For he relates of him that at a certain time, [1185C] while he was engaged in nocturnal prayers, suddenly, light being poured from above, the whole world, as though gathered under a single ray of the sun, was brought before his eyes. But let us hear what Gregory himself adds to this, as though by way of exposition: « But that the world is said to be gathered before his eyes, he says, does not mean that heaven and earth were contracted, but that the mind of the beholder was dilated. » If, then, the mind of one still placed in this world could be so dilated in the light of God — one who was surrounded with mortal flesh and set thus far under the condition of this life — what ought we to believe of that condition of the life to come, where we shall mutually see one another's consciences? But if at the pouring-in of corporeal light countless things can fall under one glance, how much more, at that pouring-in of incorporeal light, is it to be believed that incomparably [1185D] more things can be comprehended under one simple vision? If, then, according to the likeness of its own property, we grant to incorporeal light what by experiment we prove of visible light, I do not know what should prevent that last judgment from taking place with all speed. Or did the Lord perhaps wish to express this very thing by a likeness when he said: *As lightning comes forth from the east and [1186A] appears even unto the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of man? [n: (Matth. XXIV.)]* Lightning surely, when it appears, appears suddenly, and with all speed disappears. Of that light, then, which uncovers the consciences of the wicked, and shows what men deserve what things, must we not believe that it suddenly appears to them and suddenly disappears, although the memory of the things they have seen does not perish at all? For perhaps not without cause did he compare his coming to lightning rather than to the ray of the sun: for the sun too reaches from the east even to the west, but lightning never appears except for a little while; whereas with the ray of the sun it is wont to happen far otherwise. It will appear, then, like lightning, and reaching from east to west, from end to end, so that with wondrous speed it may bring forth into the light all things that everywhere on earth are, will be, [1186B] or have been, and, as far as pertains to the reckoning of judgment, all things may come forth at once and together to manifestation: *We shall all,* says the Apostle, *rise again, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,* etc. [n: (I Cor. XV)]. He who will be able to restore the bodies of all with such haste — will he not, with the same speed, be able to illumine the hearts of all as to whatever he will, as far as it pleases him? If we do not think that a ray of such brightness as we described above radiates from the hearts of the apostolic men, what shall we say of that heart in which dwells that brightness of the eternal light, in which are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in which dwells the fullness of that light which enlightens [1186C] every man coming into this world? There is surely none of the faithful who would dare to doubt that a light sufficient for all things can radiate from the heart of Christ; and, as follows from this, none who would presume to deny that the apostolic men receive immediately the rays of so great an illumination, and pour them back upon others, so that what is written may stand: *Thou dost enlighten wonderfully from the eternal mountains.* The apostolic men, then, will without doubt, above all other men — indeed, above all the malignant spirits — be not only more perspicacious in the understanding of truth, but also more supereminent in the prerogative of power, to such a degree that of all the rest no one at all will be able either to refute their sentence or to resist their violence. For the tormentor demons too, who before dragged men to torments, [1186D] will now, the turn being reversed, be disposed through the places of punishment according to the decrees of the men who judge. Behold, now it appears, as I judge, what is that prerogative of judiciary power conferred upon the apostolic men by the one Lord of all. Behold, what before was thought to be of no moment has been found to be of such great sublimity as can scarcely be believed by the less learned.
