De Gloria Regnoque Sanctorum
Being the Fifth and Final Part of The Book of the Promises and Predictions of God
by Quodvultdeus, Bishop of Carthage (c. AD 390 – c. 454)
Translated from the Latin of the 1744 Roman edition. To the best of our knowledge this is the first complete rendering of this work into English.
A NOTE ON THE FORM OF THIS PART. After four books of dense argument, Quodvultdeus ends with something completely different: thirteen very short chapters, each of which ends with the same hammer-blow — impii non videbunt, "the wicked shall not see it." It is a litany. The chapters get shorter and shorter as they go, until at the end they are one sentence each, and the refrain is nearly all that is left. He is not running out of material. He is closing a door, one bolt at a time.
Chapter 1 — Promise to be fulfilled, and to be believed: The new heaven and the new earth
The Apocalypse of John says: I saw a new heaven and a new earth [Rev 21:1].
Peter also testifies: But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth [2 Pet 3:13].
And David says: I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living [Ps 27:13].
THESE THINGS THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 2 — Promise to be fulfilled, and first to be believed: The transformation of the saints
Paul the apostle says: Until we all meet into a perfect man, into the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ [Eph 4:13].
Into which the saints — every age, and both sexes — shall pass over with this glory INTO THE YOUTH OF THIRTY YEARS (in which Christ the Lord suffered), together with their own King:
whom THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.1
Chapter 3 — Promise to be fulfilled, and first to be believed: The new Jerusalem
The Apocalypse says: I saw the new Jerusalem, coming down from God, made ready and adorned as a bride for her husband [Rev 21:2].
And Paul says: The Jerusalem which is above is free, WHICH IS OUR MOTHER [Gal 4:26].
In this city there shall be no night, neither shall there be need of the light of a lamp; no mourning, nor death, nor crying, nor any pain — because the former things are passed away [Rev 21:4; 22:5].
And the glory of this Father THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 4 — Promise to be fulfilled, and to be believed: That the saints shall shine as the sun
The Lord in the Gospel: Then, he says, shall the just shine as the sun in the sight of their Father [Matt 13:43] — for they shall be equal to the angels of the Lord [Luke 20:36].
And this glory THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 5 — Promise to be fulfilled, and to be believed: The difference of the saints in glory, as of the stars
Paul the apostle says: Star differeth from star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead [1 Cor 15:41–42].
HOW some, for the confession of martyrdom; others, for virginal integrity; others, for the continence of widowhood; others, for conjugal chastity — SHALL SHINE WITH DIFFERENT HONOURS, AND WITHOUT ENVY:
THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.2
Chapter 6 — Promise to be fulfilled, and to be believed: The virginity of the saints
The Apocalypse of John says: These are they who were not defiled with women, for they remained virgins. THESE ARE THEY WHO FOLLOW THE LAMB WHITHERSOEVER HE GOETH [Rev 14:4].
WHITHER the virgins follow him — whither they that are not virgins CANNOT follow him —
THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 7 — Promise to be fulfilled, and to be believed: The unutterable gift of the saints
Paul the apostle says: That which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, which God hath prepared for them that love him [1 Cor 2:9].
When the saints shall have received this, THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 8 — Promise to be fulfilled: Seeing God face to face
Paul the apostle says: We see now through a glass, in a riddle; but THEN FACE TO FACE [1 Cor 13:12].
HOW the saints shall see God the Trinity — the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father, the Holy Spirit both in the Father and in the Son —
THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 9 — Promise to be fulfilled: The unveiled face of the saints
Paul the apostle says: We, he says, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord [2 Cor 3:18].
And these things THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 10 — Promise to be fulfilled: That the Son shall deliver up the kingdom to God the Father
HOW the Son shall deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, as Paul the apostle says [1 Cor 15:24] —
THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.
Chapter 11 — Promise to be fulfilled: The unceasing song, Alleluia
HOW, with an unceasing song (as the Apocalypse says), the saints shall sing ALLELUIA without failing, without end [Rev 19:1–6] —
THE WICKED SHALL NEITHER HEAR, NOR SEE.
Chapter 12 — Promise to be fulfilled: The making-new of all things
HOW all things shall be made new (as Isaiah the prophet and the Apocalypse say), and shall abide for ever;
and HOW the saints shall take food FROM THE TREE OF LIFE, without corruption, and shall drink FROM THE FOUNTAIN, WHICH IS CHRIST — not by necessity, but by power [Rev 22:1–2, 14] —
THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE.3
Chapter 13 — Promise to be fulfilled: That God shall be all in all
HOW God shall be all in all, as Paul the apostle says [1 Cor 15:28] —
THE WICKED SHALL NOT SEE: because the saints and the redeemed ALONE shall enjoy to the full these heavenly delights and pleasures.
THIS is the city, the strength and the salvation of ours. THIS is the heavenly Jerusalem, sought for. And with the saints set within her, the true God is King —
He sets no bounds to their fortunes, no limits of time: HE HAS GIVEN THEM EMPIRE WITHOUT END.
These are they who reign with Christ the King: of whom Daniel says: His kingdom shall not be left to another people: for he shall reign unto ages without limit, and OF HIS KINGDOM THERE SHALL BE NO END [Dan 2:44; 7:14; Luke 1:33].4
PERORATION AND CONCLUSION OF THIS BOOK
- By the help of God's grace, I have brought this book to a close — setting down FORTY chapters to each of its first three parts, like the FORTY DAYS in which, in the courses of this life, MOSES, ELIJAH, AND THE LORD JESUS kept their fasts.
For three times forty makes ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY. There are added another TWENTY, in the Half-Part of the end of the world, and they are ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY. THIRTEEN also are added in the Glory of the Saints, and they complete ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE.
IN WHICH NUMBER those sacred fishes were caught, at the Lord's command, in the uncorrupted net of truth, after the Resurrection of the Lord [John 21:11] — signifying the thousands of the saints, whom the Lord, gathering out of every kind and tribe and tongue, through all time, has consecrated to us as a number infinite, but known to himself.
You have here the first pleasure of fishing, if you are a lover of this thing, O spiritual Reader — especially because in this book, as I reckon, you will find EVERY pleasure and EVERY affection.5
Enter, therefore, hither, O young man, and be called away hither; here take your delight, and pursue your imaginations [Eccl 11:9].
For if perhaps THE GAME OF THE DICE-BOARD invites you — in a single throw you have twos and threes, fives and sixes: the numbers by which the measures of the ARK arise [Gen 6:15] — rolling the dice of the threefold Unity; moving counters that are WHITE in good works and PURPLE in suffering, with HIM looking on who says: To him that overcometh I will give a white counter, and upon the counter a NEW NAME, WHICH NO MAN KNOWETH BUT HE THAT RECEIVETH IT [Rev 2:17].
On ivory counters, at Carthage, the names of the Proconsuls used to be written, and were called out in the forum before the people by the presiding judge under fixed titles; and it was a solemn day, the Calling of the White. Those who, overcoming greed, had administered the commonwealth faithfully, without scandals and without favouritism, were honoured even in their absence. But those whom rapacity had conquered, the people marked with jeers and hisses.
- You have, therefore, something to conquer, you who play in this world by governing the commonwealth. CONQUER GREED, WHICH IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVILS [1 Tim 6:10]: and let it be not earthly powers that allure you — which slip away by whatever means — but the heavenly and eternal.
If HUNTING is your affection — you have the highest mountains, and the STAGS running swiftly over the sayings of the apostles and the prophets. You have also, in the plains, THE ROCK, the refuge of the hedgehogs and the hares [Ps 104:18] — whom Christ the Lord hunts, in simplicity of heart, by means of his hounds, that they may be rid of the thorns of their sins.
If it is the PLEASURE OF THE SPECTACLE — you have here a spiritual CHARIOTEER, Christ; and ELIJAH, who was carried in a fiery chariot right up to the turning-posts of heaven [2 Kgs 2:11]; and the chariots of Pharaoh, sunk in the deep [Exod 14].
For a public show you have holy DANIEL, conquering the lion NOT WITH IRON BUT WITH PRAYER; and the BEARS that mauled those who had assailed Elisha the prophet with insults [Dan 6; 2 Kgs 2:24].
You have also, in the holy spectacle, NOT THE FILTHINESS OF THE MIMES, but VIRGINS consecrated to Christ. You have, in place of the horse-racers, the mystical TWINS OF REBECCA at their play [Gen 25:22]. You have DAVID DANCING BEFORE THE ARK [2 Sam 6:14], and Christ STRIPPED IN THE PASSION, before his own menservants and maidservants — exhibiting that very history of his own.
You have, lastly, the WEEPINGS and LAMENTATIONS of Jeremiah, chanted — not with tragic art, BUT WITH PROPHETIC.
- If BUILDING is your bent — you have the fabric of the world; the measures of the Ark; the circuit of the Tabernacle; the pinnacle of Solomon's Temple; and the members of the Church herself throughout the world, WHICH ALL THOSE THINGS PREFIGURED.
If FEASTING is your delight — you have here the table prepared by WISDOM [Prov 9:2], on which is the BREAD OF ANGELS, and the FATTED CALF, and the saving cup that soberly inebriates. Nor are holy FLOWERS wanting at this banquet: the LILIES of the virgins, the VIOLETS of the continent, and the ROSE-CROWNS of the martyrs.
There remains, I think, the pleasure of the MUSICIANS. — You have an ORGAN, made out of the diverse pipes of the holy apostles and of all the doctors of the Churches, fitted with certain accents — the grave, the acute, and the circumflex — which that Musician, the Spirit of God, TOUCHES THROUGH THE WORD, and fills, and makes resound; having the key of David, who shutteth and no man openeth, who openeth and no man shutteth [Rev 3:7], consecrating and adorning all things with the oil of chrism and the water of baptism.
To the sweetest and most delightful voices of this organ came the princes joined together with them that sing psalms, in the midst of the young damsels playing on timbrels [Ps 68:25]. And that which follows: In the churches bless ye the Lord [Ps 68:26].
These young damsels of the Church, while they beat the TIMBREL — that is, THE SKIN OF A DEAD ANIMAL, STRETCHED ON WOOD — are, of course, PREACHING CHRIST CRUCIFIED. And the sound of this timbrel, so great, now soothes the ears of the whole world.6
- Nor is the PSALTERY OF TEN STRINGS wanting to this banquet, while in the conclusion of the hundred and fifty Psalms the saints praise the Lord with the sound of the trumpet, with the psaltery and the harp, with the timbrel and the choir, with strings and organ, with well-sounding cymbals, with cymbals of jubilation — FOR EVERY SPIRIT PRAISETH THE LORD [Ps 150].
These things I behold in the temple of my God, in which every man saith, GLORY [Ps 29:9].
And because the passions which are by the law still work in our members, that they may bring forth fruit unto death [Rom 7:5]; and, entangled in many vices, we are held in this life, WHICH IS ALL TEMPTATION [Job 7:1] —
I have in this book both VOWED MY CONFESSION and OFFERED UP WHOLE BURNT SACRIFICES on the altar of a contrite heart:
a sacrifice OF THE FAT OF THE CALVES — the patriarchs and prophets; OF THE FAT GOATS AND RAMS — the apostles, the leaders of the flock [Ps 66:15] — for the sin of my soul, and for the cleansing of my whole self; not without the INCENSE OF THE PRAYERS OF ALL THE SAINTS [Rev 8:4], by which I trust that I can be purged from every sin.
LET THE ENVIOUS READER BE STILL — lest, as Cain struck with iron, this one strike with the tooth, or with the tongue. For the sons of men — their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword [Ps 57:4; 64:3].
But if anything displeases him — IF HE IS A GODLY MAN, LET HIM MEND IT IN MERCY, AND REPROVE IN GENTLENESS, AND PRAY FOR US:
that being found TOGETHER IN THE ARK, among the clean animals, and joined side by side in the CUBIT OF ITS PERFECTION [Gen 6:16], we may ALL follow — grace being our guide — the charity of the Lord, the Unity of the threefold Majesty, THE WAY THAT IS ABOVE ALL [1 Cor 12:31]; HE REMAINING IN US, AND WE IN HIM:
Of whom are all things, by whom are all things, WHO IS GOD, BLESSED FOR EVER. AMEN. [Rom 11:36; 9:5]
THE END OF THE PROMISES AND PREDICTIONS OF GOD.
---7
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The resurrection body is thirty years old — the age of Christ at the Passion. Every age and both sexes arrive at the same age. It is an old idea (Augustine argues it in City of God XXII.15), and the reason is Ephesians 4:13, "the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ." But note what it does: the infants Herod killed and the old men who died in their beds meet at the same age, and it is the age at which the world killed the Lord. ↩
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Sine invidia — "without envy." That is the whole doctrine of heavenly hierarchy in two words. The ranks differ and nobody minds. He does not argue it; he simply asserts that the one thing which makes rank unbearable here will be absent there. ↩
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Non necessitate, sed potestate — "not by necessity, but by power." The saints eat and drink in the new creation not because they are hungry but because they can. Eating there is not fuel; it is play. That is a small, precise, wonderful distinction, and it is the closest thing in the book to a doctrine of heavenly pleasure. ↩
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HE ENDS THE ENTIRE BOOK ON A LINE OF VIRGIL, AND IT IS THE BOLDEST THEFT IN THE WHOLE WORK.
Nec metas rerum nec tempora pono: imperium sine fine dedi. — Aeneid* I.278–279.
In Virgil, this is JUPITER, speaking to Venus, promising the destiny of ROME: "For these I set no bounds of things nor times: I have given them empire without end." It is the single most famous imperial boast in Latin literature — the charter of the eternal city, the line every schoolboy in the Empire could recite.
Quodvultdeus takes it away from Rome and gives it to the saints. And then, without a pause, he sets Daniel 2:44 and 7:14 beside it — "of his kingdom there shall be no end."
Understand what he has just done. He has run five books proving that the Scriptures promised Christ. He has spent Part Three arguing that even the pagans confessed him against their will. And now, at the very last, he reaches into the pagan epic, lifts out Jupiter's promise of an eternal empire, and hands it to the Church — a Church whose bishop is writing in exile, whose city has been taken by the Vandals, and whose actual Rome had been sacked in 410.
Imperium sine fine. The empire without end turned out not to be the one Jupiter was talking about. The pagan poet wrote the line; he just got the kingdom wrong. That is the thesis of the entire book, and Quodvultdeus saved it for the last sentence. ↩
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THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE WHOLE BOOK, REVEALED IN THE LAST PAGE.
40 + 40 + 40 + 20 + 13 = 153.
The chapter counts were never arbitrary. The three great ages get forty chapters each because Moses, Elijah, and Jesus each fasted forty days — the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel, each with its forty. Then twenty for the half-time. Then thirteen for the glory.
And the sum is 153 — the number of fish in the net in John 21.
The book is the net. Every chapter is a fish. He has been building a catch this whole time and only tells you on the last page. And the reason he gives is the right one: the 153 "signify the thousands of the saints, gathered out of every kind and tribe and tongue — a number infinite, but known to himself."
This is the kind of structural signature that ought to go straight into the Emmaus project. It is verifiable by counting — the user can count the chapters himself — and it tells you the author was thinking typologically about the shape of his own book, not just its contents.] ↩
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Stop on that one. Pellem mortui animantis extensam in ligno — "the skin of a dead animal, stretched out upon wood." That is what a tambourine is, described with brutal literalness — and it is also, described with brutal literalness, what the Cross is. The girls in Psalm 68 who beat the timbrel are, without knowing it, striking a dead body stretched on a tree, and making music out of it. And the noise, he says, is now soothing the ears of the whole world.
Note that this is NOT a shape-of-the-cross argument — it is not about the timbrel's outline. It rests entirely on what the object is made of and how it is made: a hide, killed, stretched, on wood, and struck. That distinction matters for the project's standing rule. ↩
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CLOSING NOTE ON THE PERORATION — READ THIS ONE.
The last two pages of this book are unlike anything else in it, and they are the reason it deserves to be read whole.
Having spent five books on prophecy, Antichrist, and judgment, Quodvultdeus turns to the reader and does something startling: he offers the Bible as a replacement for the entire entertainment culture of the late Roman world. He goes down the list of Roman amusements one by one — the dice board, the hunt, the chariot races, the theatre, the beast-shows, the mimes, the architecture, the banquet, the concert — and for each one he produces a scriptural counterpart. You want the arena? Daniel, beating a lion with prayer. You want the races? Elijah's chariot, running to the turning-posts of heaven. You want the mimes and their filth? Take the virgins. You want the theatre's tragic lament? Take Jeremiah, and it is not tragic art but prophetic.
And the loveliest of them: you want music? The Church is an organ, and the pipes are the apostles, and the Holy Spirit is the organist, and He plays it through the Word.
This is a man who has lost his city, been put on a leaking ship by an Arian king, and washed up in Italy — telling the reader that the Scriptures contain every pleasure there is. "In this book, as I reckon, you will find EVERY pleasure and EVERY affection."
And then, in the last line before the doxology, having written five books of polemic, he asks his critics to be gentle with him — "if he is a godly man, let him mend it in mercy, and reprove in gentleness, and pray for us" — and the image he chooses for himself and his critic together is two animals side by side in the Ark. ↩