We read the following in The Divine Institutes, Book VII, chapter XIV by Lactantius (c. 250-325):
Chap.
XIV.--Of the First and Last Times of the World.
Since we have spoken of the
immortality of the soul, it follows that we teach how and when it is given to
man; that in this also they may see the errors of their perverseness and folly,
who imagine that some mortals have become gods by the decrees and dogmas of
mortals; either because they had invented arts, or because they had taught the
use of certain productions of the earth, or because they had discovered things
useful for the life of men, or because they had slain savage beasts. How far
these things were from deserving immortality we have both shown in the former
books, and we will now show, that it may be evident that it is righteousness
alone which procures for man eternal life, and that it is God alone who bestows
the reward of eternal life. For they who are said to have been immortalized by
their merits, inasmuch as they possessed neither righteousness nor any true
virtue, did not obtain for themselves immortality, but death by their sins and
lusts; nor did they deserve the reward of heaven, but the punishment of hell,
which impends over them, together with all their worshippers. And I show that
the time of this judgment draws near, that the due reward may be given to the
righteous, and the deserved punishment may be inflicted on the wicked.
Plato and many others of the
philosophers, since they were ignorant of the origin of all things, and of that
primal period at which the world was made, said that many thousands of ages had
passed since this beautiful arrangement of the world was completed; and in this
they perhaps followed the Chaldeans, who, as Cicero has related in his first
book respecting divination, foolishly say that they possess comprised in their
memorials four hundred and seventy thousand years; in which matter, because
they thought that they could not be convicted, they believed that they were at
liberty to speak falsely. But we, whom the Holy Scriptures instruct to the
knowledge of the truth, know the beginning and the end of the world, respecting
which we will now speak in the end of our work, since we have explained
respecting the beginning in the second book. Therefore let the philosophers,
who enumerate thousands of ages from the beginning of the world, know that the six
thousandth year is not yet completed, and that when this number is completed
the consummation must take place, and the condition of human affairs be
remodelled for the better, the proof of which must first be related, that the
matter itself may be plain. God completed the world and this admirable work of
nature in the space of six days, as is contained in the secrets of Holy
Scripture, and consecrated the seventh day, on which He had rested from His
works. But this is the Sabbath-day, which in the language of the Hebrews
received its name from the number, whence the seventh is the legitimate and
complete number. For there are seven days, by the revolutions of which in order
the circles of years are made up; and there are seven stars which do not set,
and seven luminaries which are called planets, whose differing and unequal
movements are believed to cause the varieties of circumstances and times.
Therefore, since all the works of
God were completed in six days, the world must continue in its present state
through six ages, that is, six thousand years. For the great day of God is
limited by a circle of a thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says
"In Thy sight, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day." And as God
laboured during those six days in creating such great works, so His religion
and truth must labour during these six thousand years, while wickedness
prevails and bears rule. And again, since God, having finished His works,
rested the seventh day and blessed it, at the end of the six thousandth year
all wickedness must be abolished from the earth, and righteousness reign for a
thousand years; and there must be tranquillity and rest from the labours which
the world now has long endured. But how that will come to pass I will explain
in its order. We have often said that lesser things and things of small
importance are figures and previous shadowings forth of great things; as this
day of ours, which is bounded by the rising and the setting of the sun, is a
representation of that great day to which the circuit of a thousand years
affixes its limits.
In the same manner also the
fashioning of the earthly man held forth to the future the formation of the
heavenly people. For as, when all things were completed which were contrived
for the use of man, last of all, on the sixth day, He made man also, and
introduced him into this world as into a home now carefully prepared; so now on
the great sixth day the true man is being formed by the word of God, that is, a
holy people is fashioned for righteousness by the doctrine and precepts of God.
And as then a mortal and imperfect man was formed from the earth, that he might
live a thousand years in this world; so now from this earthly age is formed a
perfect man, that being quickened by God, he may bear rule in this same world
through a thousand years. But in what manner the consummation will take place,
and what end awaits the affairs of men, if any one shall examine the divine
writings he will ascertain. But the voices also of prophets of the world, agreeing
with the heavenly, announce the end and overthrow of all things after a short
time, describing as it were the last old age of the wearied and wasting world.
But the things which are said by prophets and seers to be about to happen
before that last ending comes upon the world, I will subjoin, being collected
and accumulated from all quarters. (ANF 7:211-12)
Commenting on the eschatology of this text, Quasten noted that
Lactantius is convinced that there
are at the most only two hundred years left of the six thousand. Then 'the Son
of the most high and mighty God shall come to judge the living and the dead . .
. Before the end of the thousand years the devil shall be loosed afresh and
shall assemble all the pagan nations to make war against the holy city. He
shall besiege and surround it. "Then the last anger of God shall come upon
the nations, and shall utterly destroy them' (7, 26), and the world shall go
down in a great conflagration. The people of God will be concealed in the caves
of the earth during the three days of destruction, until the anger of God
against the nations and the last judgment shall be ended. (Johannes Quasten, Patrology,
4 vols. [Allen, Tex.: Christian Classics, 1983], 2:409-10)
