Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Loss of Grace · Book VI: The Punishments of Original Sin
Chapter 7: Response is made to the objections against the doctrine of the preceding chapter
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. V, De Amissione Gratiae et Statu Peccati, Book VI. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
Against the things that have been said, some objections are wont to be made, which we shall briefly dissolve.
The first objection: The words of the divine Scripture which were brought above from the Apocalypse — As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her — if they rightly prove that little ones will not suffer the punishment of sense, certainly they also prove that they will not suffer sorrow of mind, since little ones could taste no delights at all, either of body or of mind. I answer: there is much difference between the punishment of sense and the sorrow of mind. For the punishment of sense after this life can be none, unless it be inflicted directly and properly by the divine justice; but it is not equitable, as Scripture teaches, that punishment be directly inflicted on him who had no pleasure. But the sorrow of mind over the lost beatitude is not properly and directly inflicted, but follows of itself and naturally. And so, as in this life the punishment directly inflicted on account of original sin is the privation of original justice, which subjected the lower part to the higher and the body to the soul, while the indirect and consequent punishment is all the labors and pains of this life — so also after death the punishment directly inflicted on account of original sin is the lack of the vision of God, while the indirect and consequent punishment is the sorrow of mind which is felt from the knowledge of the lost beatitude.
The second objection: The punishment of the little ones after this life will be most mild, as St. Augustine teaches in the Enchiridion, chapter 93, and elsewhere; but the sorrow over lost beatitude is most grave, and surpasses corporal pain by many degrees. I answer: when St. Augustine says that the punishment of the little ones will be most mild, he does not compare the punishment of the mind with the punishment of the body, but the punishment of the little ones with the punishment of adults. And he rightly says it will be most mild, for three causes. First, because adults will be punished with the punishment of loss and of sense; the little ones, with the punishment of loss alone. Second, because adults will have annexed to the punishment of loss the worm of conscience, which the little ones will lack. Third, because adults will feel a most grave sorrow over the lost beatitude, the little ones contrariwise a most light one. For sorrow over a lost thing is by so much graver or lighter, as one had a greater or lesser disposition toward attaining that thing; and none of the damned had a lesser disposition toward the heavenly beatitude than they who passed from life before the use of reason.
The third objection: The concordant opinion of the Doctors leans to that view, that the little ones suffer no sorrow of mind at all. I answer: it is not so. For the more ancient Doctors — Augustine, Fulgentius, Gregory, the author of the sermons on the cardinal works of Christ — lean rather, as we have shown, to the contrary. Next, Peter Lombard, on 2 Sentences, distinction 33, while he removes from the little ones only the corporal fire and the worm of conscience, leaves openly enough the lack of beatitude, with the sorrow which follows from it. Innocent too, in the chapter Majores, On Baptism and Its Effect, when he says that the punishment of original sin is the lack of the divine vision, but of actual, the torment of perpetual gehenna, excludes from the punishment of the little ones the corporal fire, which is properly called the torment of gehenna — but not the sadness which naturally accompanies the lack of the vision of God. Moreover, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure testify that in their time there were not wanting writers who taught that unbaptized little ones will suffer a sorrow of mind, though a most mild one, from the lack of the vision of God. Finally, in our age John Driedo, as we said above, judged that not only internal but also external sorrow is to be attributed to unbaptized little ones. And Dominic Soto, book 1 On Nature and Grace, chapter 14, thus concluded his disputation: “Wherefore either it must be said that this cause for which they were expelled is hidden from them — which I should rather approve, because it is outside the natural order of things — or, if they know it, as some will have it, I can scarcely understand how no sadness thence troubles them.” Where that most learned man, otherwise a distinguished follower of St. Thomas, openly confesses that the little ones will suffer internal sorrow, if that be true which we, with St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure, do not doubt to be most true: that the cause why they fell from the heavenly beatitude will be known to those same little ones. Peter de Soto too, in the book On the Instruction of Priests, lecture 6 on Baptism, near the end, numbers among the novelties of Catharinus to be avoided, that the little ones on the last day will receive an entire and perfect nature, lacking only the original gift and the divine vision, but one which will in no way be to them an affliction or a sadness.
The fourth objection: The little ones after this life will understand that by the just ordination of God they are deprived of the heavenly beatitude; therefore they will not grieve or be saddened over that privation; for otherwise they would be of perverse will, not only in habit but also in act, and would murmur against the divine judgments — perhaps even blaspheme. Which are all very absurd, since it is agreed that they will not be worse than they were when they departed hence. I answer: it is not necessary that they who know the just judgment of God in their affliction either not grieve, or murmur against God. For it can be that they truly suffer, but patiently and without complaint. Do not the souls in the places of purgation acknowledge that by the just judgment of God they pay penalties? Or do they not feel pains, and those most fierce? Or do they speak against the divine judgments? Holy Job, the martyrs of Christ, Christ himself in his passion — did they not feel most grievous pains, and bear them most patiently, and know most certainly that they suffered by the will of God? But of these things thus far.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT VII. Respondetur ad objectiones contra doctrinam capitis superioris. Adversus ca qua: dicta sunt nonnulla) ob¬ jectiones fieri solent, quas breviter dissolve¬ mus. Prima objectio. Verba divina) Scriptura), quas supra ex Apocalypsi allata sunt : Quan¬ tum se fflorificavit , et in deliciis fuit , tantum, date illi tormentum et luctum (1). Si recte pro¬ bant, parvulos non esse passuros poenam sensus, certe etiam probant, non esse passu¬ ros dolorem animi, cum parvuli nullas om¬ nino delicias, neque corporis, neque animi degustare potuerint. Respondeo : multum interest inter poenam sensus et dolorem ani¬ mi. Nam poma) sensus post hanc vitam nulla esse poterit, nisi a divina justitia directe, uc proprie infligatur ; non autem fequuni est, ut Scriptura docet, ut poena directe infliga¬ tur ei, qui nullam habuit voluptatem. At do¬ lor animi ex amissione bealitudinis non pro¬ prie ac directe infligitur, sed per sehacnalu- raliter sequitur. Itaque sicut in hac vita pre¬ mi directe inflictapropter originale peccatum, est privatio justitia) originalis, qua) partem inferiorem superiori, et corpus anima) sub¬ jiciebat, poena autem indirecta et consequens sunt omnes labores, et dolores hujus vita) : sic etiam post mortem poena directe inflicta propter originale peccatum, est carentia vi¬ sionis Dei, poma autem indirecta et conse¬ quens est animi dolor, qui ex amissae beati- tudinis cognitione percipitur. Secunda objectio : Parvulorum poena post hanc vitam mitissima erit, ut S. Augustinus docet in Enchirid. cap. 93. et alibi: at dolor de amissa beatitudine gravissimus est, et multis partibus dolorem corporalem supe¬ rat. Respondeo, cum sanctus Augustinus di¬ cit, poenam parvulorum fore mitissimam, non comparat poenam animi cum poena cor¬ poris, sed poenam parvulorum cum poena majorum. Itecte autem dicit fore mitissimam tribus de causis. Primo, quia majores pu¬ nientur poena damni et sensus ; parvuli poena damni solius. Secundo, quia majores ad poe¬ nam damni annexum habebunt vermem con¬ scientia', quo parvuli carebunt. Tertio, quia majores dolorem de amissa beatitudine gra¬ vissimum percipient, parvuli contra levissi¬ mum. Tanto enim dolor de re amissa gra¬ vior est, aut lcviop, quanto quis majorem aut minorem ad eam rem adipiscendam dis¬ positionem habuit. Nulli autem damnatorum minorem dispositionem ad coelestem beati tu - dinem habuerunt, quam ii, qui ante usum rationis de vita migrarunt. Tertia objectio. Concors Doctorum senten¬ tia in eam opinionem propendet, ut parvuli nullum omnino dolorem animi patiantur. Re¬ spondeo non ita est, nam antiquiores Docto- res, Augustinus, Fulgentius, Gregorius, auc¬ tor sermonum de cardinalibus operibus Chri¬ sti magis propendent, ut ostendimus, in con¬ trariam. Deinde Petrus Lombardus in '1. Sen- tent. dist. 33. dum soluin removet a parvulis ignem corporalem et vermem conscicntiie, satis aperte relinquit carentiam bealitudinis cum dolore, qui inde consequitur. Innocent. quoque in cap. Majores de Baptismo et ejus effectu, cum dicit, pcenum peccati originalis esse carentiam visionis divina), actualis au¬ tem, gehenna) perpetuo: cruciatum ; ignem (I)Apoc. XVIII,?. CAPUT \ III, corporalem, qui propriae gehennae cruciatus dicitur, a poena parvulorum excludit, non autem eum tristitiam, quae carentium visionis Dei naturaliter comitatur. Adhaec sanctus Thomas, et sanctus Bona- veutura testantur, non defuisse suo tempore Scriptores, qui docerent, parvulos non ba¬ ptizato* passuros animi dolorem, quamvis mitissimum, ex carentia visionis Dei. Denique nostro saeculo Joanncs Driedo, ut supra dixi- mus, non solum dolorem internum, sed etiam externum parvulis non baptizatis tribuendum esse censuil. Et Dominicus a Soto lib. i. dc natura et gratia, cap. 1 i. disputationem suam ita conclusit : « Quocirca vel dicendum est hanc causam, qua fuerint expulsi, occultam sibi esse, quod magis probaverim, eo quod sit extra naturalem ordinem rerum : aut si eam cognoscunt, ut quidam volunt, vix pos¬ sum intelligere, quomodo nulla inde eos tristitia molestet. » Ubi vir i»te doctissimus et insignis alioqui S. Thonue sectator aperte fatetur, parvulos dolorem internum passuros, si verum sit, quod nos cum sancto Thorria, sanctoque Bonaventura verissimum esse non dubitamus , nolam fore - iisdem parvulis causam, cur a beatitudine coelesti excide¬ rint. Petrus quoque a Sotu in libro de institu¬ tione Sacerdotum, lectione sexta de Bapti¬ smo, propre extrema, novitates Catharini vi¬ tandas numerat, quod parvuli in die novis¬ simo recepturi sint integram et perfectam naturam solo dono originali, visioneque di¬ vina carentem, sed qua.* nullo modo eis af¬ flictioni vel tristitiae sit futura. Quarto objectio. Parvuli post hanc vitam intelligenl, justa Dei ordinatione se privari caelesti beatitudine, igitur non dolebunt, nec tristabuntur de ea privatione ; nam alioqui perversae voluntatis essent non solum habitu, sed etiam actu, et de divinis judiciis obmur¬ murarent, forte etiam blasphemarent. Quae suul omnia perabsurba, cum constet eos non futuros pejores, quam essent cum hinc dis¬ cesserunt. Itcspoildeo, non est necessarium, ut qui justum Dei judicium in sua afflictione cognoscunt, aut non doleant, aut de Deo ob¬ murmurent. Potest enim fieri, ut vere pa¬ tiantur, sed patienter et sine querimonia. An in locis purgatoriis animae non agnoscunt se, justo Dei judicio poenas luere ? aut dolores et quidem atrocissunos non sentiunt? aut de divinis judiciis obloquuntur ? S. Job,- Christi martyres, Christus ipse in passione sua, nun- Tox. V. «3. ne dolores gravissimos senserunt, el patien¬ tissime pertulerunt, et Dei voluntate se pati certissime cognoverunt ? Sed de bis hacte¬ nus. /