§ 67. MONASTIC PKOPHETS. 375
Interwoven with his prophecies is Joachim's theory of his torical development. There are three ages in history. The Old Testament age has its time of beginning and bloom. So has that of the New Testament. But a third age is to follow. The basis for this theory of three periods is found in a compari son of the Old and New Testaments, a comparison which re veals a parallelism between the leading periods of the history of Israel and the periods of Christian history. This parallelism was disclosed to Joachim on an Easter night, and made as clear as day.
The first of the three ages was the age of the Father, the second the age of the Son, of the Gospel, and the sacraments, the third, the age of the Holy Spirit which was yet to come. The three were represented by Peter, Paul, and John. The first was an age of law, the second of grace, the third of more grace. The first was characterized by fear, the second by faith, the third was to be marked by charity. The first was the age of servants, the second of freedmen, the third of friends. The first brought forth water, the second wine, the third was to bring forth oil. The first was as the light of the stars, the second of the dawn, the third of the perfect day. The first was the age of the married, and corresponded to the flesh ; the second of priests, with the elements of the flesh and the Spirit mixed; the third of monks, and was to be wholly spiritual. Each of these ages had a beginning, a ma turity, and an end.1 The first began with Adam, and entered upon its maturity with Abraham. The second began in the
counts twenty-four works, genuine and ungenuine, which are ascribed to him. Among those pronounced ungenuine are the commentaries on Jeremiah and Isaiah which were much used by the Franciscans from the middle of the thirteenth century on. They call Rome, Ba,bylon and show a bitter hostility to the pope, representations which are in conflict with Joachim's genuine writ ings. They also abound in detailed prophecies of events which actually occurred. u If these books were genuine," says Dollinger, p. 369, u the exact fulfilment of the many predictions would present the most wonderful phe nomenon in the history of prophecy." 1 principium, fructificatio, finis.
376 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
days of Elijah, and entered upon its maturity with Christ. The third began in the days of St. Benedict in the sixth cen tury. Its maturity had already begun in the days of Joachim himself. The consummation was to begin in 1260.
The Gospel of the letter is temporal not eternal, and gives way in the third period to the Eternal Gospel, Rev. 14 : 6. Then the spiritual meaning of the Gospel will be fully known. Joachim did not mean to deny the per manent authority of the two Testaments, when he put into his third period the full understanding of them, in the spirit ual sense, and the complete embodiment of their teachings in life and conduct. The Eternal Gospel he described, not as a newly written revelation, but as the spiritual and per manent message of Christ's Gospel, which is hidden under the surface of the letter. This Gospel he also called the Spiritual Gospel, and the Gospel of the Kingdom.1 It was to be preached in the whole earth and the Jews, Greeks, and the larger part of mankind, were to be converted. A spirit ual Church would result,2 by which was meant, not a church separate from the papacy, but a church purified. The Eternal Gospel was to be proclaimed by a new order, the " little ones of Christ."3 In his Apocalypse, Joachim speaks of two prophets of this new order.4 This prediction was subsequently applied to Francis and Dominic.
It was in the conception of the maturition of the periods as much as in the succession of the periods that the theory of development is brought out.5 In the development of the parallels between the history of Israel and the Christian Church, Joachim discovered a time in each to correspond to the seven seals of the Apocalypse. The first seal is indicated
1 See Denifle, pp. 53 sqq.
2 spiritualis ecclesia, also called ecclesia contemplative,, Denifle, pp. 56 sqq. 8 Parvuli Christi or parvuli de latino, ecclesia, a name for monks.
4 In some passages Joachim also speaks of two orders. See Do'llinger, 376.
5 So Schott, p. 180, Die Fructification ist nichts anders als ein neuer Ausdruck fur den Entwicklungsgedanken.