st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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88 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
ments for a resurrection of the body, and for our
personal identity being unchanged. The conclu
sions drawn by St. Paul from the analogy of nature
(i. Cor., xv., 35-38) are repeated and enforced; and
with the following words Damascenus concludes :
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Wherefore we shall rise again, with our souls united
again to their bodies, now made incorruptible and
putting off decay, and shall stand before the dread
tribunal of Christ. Then shall the Devil, and his
angels, and that man of his, even Antichrist, and the
ungodly and sinful, be delivered up to everlasting
fire : not a material 1
fire, as with us, but such as will
be known to God. But they that have done good
shall shine forth, like the sun, unto eternal life, along
withthe angels and with our Lord Jesus Christ ;
ever
for evermore
seeing Him and seen by Him; enjoying the happiness that comes from Him ; praising Him,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for endless ages
of ages. Amen."
Even such an outline as the above, brief and sketchy
.as it
unavoidably is, may yet be considered by the
reader as somewhat tedious. But the importance of
the "De
Fide," or rather, of that encyclopaedic "Source
of Knowledge of which it is but one portion, should
be borne in mind. And if it is remembered that we
have here the earliest system, or body, of Christian
theology, the precursor of the great works of Lombardus
and Aquinas, we shall not grudge a little effort
1
In the Dialogus contra Manichseos (Op. i., pp. 1505-
1584), the nature of this fire is more plainly described. It is
there said to be not material fire, but the unquenchable flame of
sinful desire.