Medieval Sourcebook:
The Golden Legend: The Advent of the Lord
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OF THE ADVENT OF OUR LORD
The time of the Advent or coming of our Lord into this world is hallowed in Holy Church
the time of four weeks, in betokening of four divers comings. The first was when he came
and appeared in human nature and flesh. The second is in the heart and conscience. The
third is at death. The fourth is at the Last Judgment. The last week may unnethe be
accomplished: for the glory of the saints which shall be given at the last coming shall
never end nor finish. And to this signifiance the first response of the first week of
Advent hath four verses to reckon. Gloria patri et filio, for one, to the report of the
four weeks, and how it be that there be four comings of our Lord, yet the Church maketh
mention in especial but of twain, that is to wit, of that he came in human nature to the
world, and of that he cometh to the Judgment and Doom, as it appeareth in the office of
the Church of this time. And therefore the fastings that be in this time, be of gladness
and of joy in one part, and that other part is in bitterness of heart. Because of the
coming of our Lord in our nature human, they be of joy and gladness. And because of the
coming at the Day of Judgment, they be of bitterness and heaviness.
As touching the coming of our Lord in our bodily flesh, we may consider three things of
this coming, that is to wit, the opportunity, the necessity and the utility. The
opportunity of coming is taken by the reason of the man that first was vanquished in the
law of nature of the default of the knowledge of God, by which he fell into evil errors,
and therefore he was constrained to cry to God: Illumina oculos meos, that is to say,
Lord, give light to mine eyes. After, came the law of God, which hath given commandment in
which he hath been overcome of impuissance, as first he hath cried: There is none that
fulfilleth but that commandeth. For there he is only taught, but not delivered from sin,
ne holpen by grace, and therefore he was constrained to cry: There lacketh none to
command, but there is none that accomplished the commandment. Then came the Son of God in
time when man was vanquished of ignorance and impuissance. To that if he had so come
tofore, peradventure man might say that by his own merits he might have been saved, and
thus he had not been bound to yield thanks to God. The second thing that is shown us of
this coming is the necessity by reason of the time, of which the apostle Paul speaketh, ad
Galatas the fourth chapter: At ubi venit plenitudo temporis, when the plentitude or full
time of the grace of God was ordained, then he sent his Son that was God and Son of the
virgin and wife which was made subject to the law. To that, that they be subject to the
law he bought them again, and were received sons of God by grace of adoption. Now saith S.
Austin that many demand why he came not rather. He answered that it was because that the
plentitude of time was not come, which should come by him, that all things were ordained
and made, and after when this plentitude of time came, he came that of time past hath
delivered us, to that we shall bedelivered of time, we shall come to him whereas no time
passeth, but is perpetuity. The third thing that is showed to us of this coming is the
utility and profit that cometh for the cause of the hurt and sickness general. For sith
the malady was general, the medicine must be general, whereof saith S. Austin that: Then
came the great medicine, when the great malady was through all the world. Whereof the holy
Church remembereth in the seven anthems that be sung before the nativity of our Lord,
where the malady is showed in divers manners, and for each demandeth remedy of his malady
of prisoner out of the prison that sitteth in darkness and shadow of death. For they that
have been long in prison and dark places may not see clearly, but have their eyes dim.
Therefore, after we be delivered from prison, it behoveth that our eyes be made clear and
our sight illumined for to see whither we should go, and therefore we cry in the fifth
anthem: O Oriens splendor lucis eterne, veni et illumina sedentes in tenebris et umbra
mortis, O Orient that art the resplendour of the eternal light, come and illumine them
that sit in darkness and shadow of death, and if we were taught, lighted, unbound, and
bought, what should it avail to us but if we should be saved? And, therefore, we require
to be saved, and therefore we say in the two last anthems, the sixth and the seventh; when
we cry: O Rex gentium, veni et salva hominem quem de limo formasti, O thou King of peoples
come and save the man that thou hast formed of the slime of the earth; and in the seventh:
O Emmanuel rex et legifer noster veni ad saluandum nos, domine deus noster, O Emmanuel
that art our King, and bearer of our law, our Lord, our God, come and save us. The profit
of his coming is assigned of many saints in many manners, for Luke saith in the fourth
chapter that our Lord was sent and came to us for seven profits, where he saith: The
Spirit of our Lord is on me, which he rehearseth by order; he was sent for the comfort of
the poor, to heal them that were sick in sin, to deliver them that were in prison, to
teach them that were uncunning. To forgive sins, to buy again all mankind. And for to give
reward to them that deserve it. And S. Austin putteth here three profits of his coming and
saith: In this wretched world what aboundeth but to be born to labour and to die. These be
the merchandise of our region, and to these merchandises the noble merchant Jesus
descended. And because all merchants give and take, they give that they have and take that
they have not; Jesu Christ in this merchandise gave and took, he took that which in this
world aboundeth, that is to wit, to be born to labour and to die, he gave again to us to
be born spiritually, to rise and reign perdurably. And he himself came to us to take
villanies and to give to us honour, to suffer death and to give us life, to take poverty
and to give us glory. S. Gregory putteth four causes of the profit of his coming:
Studebant omnes superbi de eadem stirpe progeniti, prospera vitæ præsentis appetere,
adversa devitare, opprobria fugere, gloriam sequi: They of the world, in their pride
descended of the same lineage, studied to desire the prosperity of this present life, to
eschew the adversities, to flee the reproofs and shames and to ensue the glory of the
world. And our Lord came incarnate among them, asking and seeking the adversities,
despiting the prosperities, embracing villanies, fleeing all vain glory. And he himself
which descended from glory, came, and he being come, taught new things, and in showing
marvels suffered many evils. S. Bernard putteth other causes, and saith that, we travail
in this world for three manner of maladies or sickness, for we be lightly deceived, feeble
to do well, and frail to resist against evil. If we entend to do well we fail, it we do
pain to resist the evil, we be surmounted and overcome; and for this the coming of Jesu
Christ was to us necessary. To that he inhabiteth in us, by faith he illumineth our eyes
of the heart, and in abiding with us he helpeth us in our malady, and in being with us he
defendeth our frailty against our enemies.
Of the second coming which shall be at the last Judgment two things be to be seen, that
is to wit, that which cometh before the Judgment, and that which shall be at the Judgment.
As for the first, three things shall be tofore the Judgment. First, the terrible confusion
of signs and tokens. Secondly, the malice and deceit of Antichrist, and the third, of
vehement and marvellous operation of the fire. As touching the signs, S. Luke saith in the
twenty-fifth chapter: Erunt signa in sole, luna et stellis, etc. There shall be great
signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and in the earth oppression of people
anguishous for the confusion of the sound of the sea and of the waves. The three first
signs be determined in the Book of the Apocalypse in the sixth chapter. Sol factus est
niger tanquam saccus cilicinus: et luna facta est sicut sanguis, et stellæ ceciderunt
super terraim. Then shall be the time that the sun shall be black as a sack, gross and
rude, and the moon shall be as blood, and the stars shall fall on the earth. The sun is
said dark, forasmuch as he is deprived of his light, as though he wept for the dying of
men. For S. Austin saith that, the vengeance of God shall be so cruel at the day of doom,
that the sun shall not dare behold it. Or as for to speak of the proper signification
spiritually to be understood, is that, the Son of Justice, Jesu Christ, shall be then so
dark that no man shall dare know him. The heaven is here taken for the air, and the star
judge in great fear. The sixth sign, the edifices and buildings shall fall down: and in
this sixth day thunders and tempests full of fire shall grow in the west, where the sun
goeth down against the firmament, in running to the east. The seventh sign, the stones
shall smite and hurtle together and shall cleave in four parts, and each part shall smite
other, ne none. The eighth sign shall be the moving and general trembling of the earth,
which shall be so. The ninth sign, all the earth shall be even and plain, and all the
mountains and valleys shall be brought into powder and be all like. The tenth day, the men
shall issue out of the caves and shall go by the ways and fields as men aliened and out of
their wit, and shall not con speak one to another. The eleventh day the bones of dead men
shall issue out of their burials and places and shall hold them upon their sepulchres, and
from the sun rising unto it go down, the sepulchres shall be open, to the end that the
dead bodies may all issue. The twelfth sign all the stars shall fall from the heaven and
shall spread out rays of fire, and then great quantity shall grow. In this twelfth day it
is said that all the beasts shall come to the field howling, and shall not eat ne drink.
The thirteenth sign, all living shall die, to the end that they should arise with the dead
bodies. The fourteenth day the heaven and the earth shall burn. The fifteenth day shall be
a new heaven and a new earth, and all things and all dead men shall arise.
The second thing that shall be afore judgment, shall be the folly and malice of
Antichrist; he shall pain him to deceive all men by four manners. The first manner shall
be by suasion and false exposition of Scripture. Forasmuch as he may, he shall give them
to understand Christ, and he shall destroy the law of Jesu Christ, and shall ordain his
law in alleging David the Prophet that saith: Constitue domine legislatorem super eos.
Thus shall he say, that it was said for him as he that was ordained of God for to set law
upon his place, after this that is said in the scripture of Daniel, Daniel xi.: Dabunt
abominationem et desolationem templi, etc. Antichrist and his complices shall give
abomination and desolation to the temple of God in this time, as saith the gloss:
Antichrist shall be in the temple of God, as God, for that he shall destroy the law of
God. The second manner shall be by marvellous operation of miracles, whereof saith the
apostle S. Paul in his second Epistle ad Thessalonicenses in the second chapter, where he
saith: Cujus adventus erit secundum operationem Sathanae in omnibus verbis et prodigiis
mendacibus. Of Antichrist it is said that, the coming shall be after the operation of
Satan in all his signs, in all his marvels, and false Iying deeds, whereof S. John maketh
mention in the Apocalypse, the thirteenth chapter: Fecit signa ut etiam ignem facerit de
celo in terram descendere. Antichrist shall make such signs, that is to say, he shall make
such tokens that he shall make the fire descend from heaven. The gloss saith that, like as
the Holy Ghost descended in likeness of fire, in likewise shall Antichrist give the evil
spirit in likeness of fire. The third manner that he shall do for to deceive, shall be in
giving of gifts, of which is written in the book of Daniel the Prophet in his eleventh
chapter: Dabit eis potestatem in multis et terram divides gratuito: Antichrist shall give
puissance to his servants in many things, and shall depart the earth to them after his
will. The gloss saith that, Antichrist shall give many gifts to them that he shall
deceive. And to his disciples he shall divide the earth, and them that and make them
thereby to obey him. The fourth manner for to deceive them shall be by torments that he
shall give to them, whereof Daniel saith in his eighth chapter: Supra quod credi potest
universe vastabit; no man shall believe how he shall destroy and torment them that will
not believe in him, for to draw them to him by force. And S. Gregory saith of him:
Robustos quippe interficiet, et cetera; he shall slay the great and strong men; when he
may not win nor overcome them by heart ne will, he shall overcome them by torment. The
third thing that shall go before the judgment shall be the right vehement fire, the which
shall go tofore the face of the judge. And God shall send this fire for four causes. First
for the renewing of the world, for he shall purge and renew the elements. And, like to the
form of the deluge it shall be forty cubits higher than all the mountains, like as it is
written in the history scholastic; for the works of the people may mount so high. Secondly
for the purgation of the people; for then that fire shall be instead of the fire of
purgatory to them that then shall be on live. Thirdly for to give more greater torment to
them that be damned. Fourthly for to give more clearness and light unto the saints. For
after the saying of S. Basil: Our Lord God when shall make the purgation of the w others
should see them. And it ought not to be believed that within that little valley all might
be enclosed, after that which S. Jerome saith, but many shall be there, and the others
there about. Nevertheless, in a little space of land may be men without number by divine
puissance and ordinance, and, if it be of necessity, the chosen people shall be in the air
for the agility and lightness of their bodies, and also in soul. And then the judge shall
dispute and reprove the wicked men of the works of mercy which he ordained to us. And they
shall not mow reply, but shall then weep upon themselves and upon their deeds; like as S.
John Chrysostom saith upon the gospel of S. Matthew, in saying that, the Jews shall weep
their life when they shall see their judge and him that giveth life to all men, whom they
esteemed and trowed a dead man, and shall blame themselves for his body hurt and wounded
by them. And they may not deny their cruelty but shall weep in great distress. The
paynims, which by the vain disputations of the philosophers were deceived and supposed it
to have been folly to worship God crucified. The Christian men, sinners, shall weep that
have more loved the world than God. The heretics shall weep because they holden false
opinions against the Faith of Jesu Christ whom then they shall see the sovereign judge,
whom the Jews crucified. And so shall all the lineages of the world weep, for they shall
have no force ne power ne strength against him, nor they may not flee before his face, nor
they shall have no time of space to do penance for their sins nor to make satisfaction of
the great anguish that they shall have of all things: there shall nothing abide to them
but weeping. The second thing that shall follow at the judgment is the difference of the
orders. For thus, as S. Gregory saith: at the day of judgment shall be four things, two on
the party reproved, and two on the party chosen. The first shall be damned and perished,
to whom he shall say, Esurivi et non dedistis mihi manducare; I had hunger and ye have
given to me no meat. The other shall not be judged and perish, of whom it is written, Qui
non credit jam judicatus est; he that believeth not is now judged. For they shall not
perceive the words of the judge, which would not keep the words of God. The other of the
party of the good shall be judged and shall reign, as they to whom shall be said: I have
had hunger and ye have given me meat. The other shall not be judged and yet shall reign.
That is to wit, the perfect men that shall judge others; not that they shall give the
sentence of the judgment; for the sovereign judge shall only give the sentence, but they
be said judges, because they be present approving the judgment. And this assistance shall
be first to the honour of saints. For it shall be great honour to them to have their seats
and sit with the judge, like as Jesu Christ promised to them, that they should be sitting
upon twelve seats judging the twelve lineages of Israel. Secondly, to the confirmation of
the sentence; for they shall approve the sentence given of the judge, as do the assistants
in judgment which approve the sentence of the judge that is good and just. And with their
hands they set-to their names in witness; like as David saith: Ut faciant in eis judicium
conscriptum, etc. To the end that they make upon the damned, judgment written with the
judge. Thirdly, that shall be to condemnation of the evil people whom they shall condemn
by the works of their good life.
The third thing that followeth the Judgment, that shall be the signs and tokens of the
passion of Jesu Christ. That is to wit, the cross, the nails and the wounds. The which
signs shall be first for to shew his glorious victory. And by that they shall appear in
the excellence of his glory, whereof saith S. John Chrysostom that, the cross and the
wounds shall be more shining than any rays of the sun; now then, saith he, consider ye
what the virtue is of the cross The sun then shall be dark and the moon shall give no
light, hereby then may ye understand how much the cross is more shining than the moon and
more clear than the sun. Secondly, for to shew his mercy, by which he shall save the good.
Thirdly, for to shew his justice, how justly he hath damned them that be evil, because
they have despised so noble price as his blood, and set not thereby. And therefore as
saith S. John Chrysostom: he shall say to them hard words by manner of reproof: For your
sake I made myself a man, f what good then we should have done. And he shall say to the
judge: Right true judge deme and judge this sinner to be mine for his trespass, which
would be shine by grace. He is thine by nature, he is mine by his misery, he is thine by
the passion, he is mine by monition. To thee he hath been inobedient, to me he hath been
obedient. He hath received of thee the vesture of immortality; of me he hath taken this
penible coat with which he is clad. He hath left thy vesture and is come to mine. Right
just deemer, judge him to be mine for to be damned with me. to God, but from God may no
man appeal, for he hath none above him. Secondly, for the crime. For all trespass and sins
shall be there openly showed, whereof saith S. Jerome that: In this day all our deeds
shall be showed, like as they were written in a table and noted. Thirdly, for the thing
which may not suffer dilation. For all things that shall be done at the judgment shall be
done in the twinkling of an eye. Then let us pray that we may in this holy time so receive
him, that at the day of judgment we may be received into his everlasting bliss. Amen.
Source.
The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine,
Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First Edition Published 1470. Englished by William
Caxton, First Edition 1483, Edited by F.S. Ellis, Temple Classics, 1900 (Reprinted 1922,
1931.)
This chapter is from: Volume 1: The Advent of the Lord
Scanned by Robert Blackmon. bob_blackmon@mindspring.com.
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