tion. This doctrine is explicitly stated in the symbols of that Church, and defended by its theologians. Cardinal Gousset, for example, says that original sin, of which all the children of Adam are partakers, is the death of the soul. Its consequences in this life are ignorance or obscuration of the understanding, feebleness of the will which can do nothing spiritually good without the as- sistance of divine grace, concupiscence or revolt of our lower nature, infirmities, sorrow, and the death of the body. Its con- sequences in the life to come are exclusion from the kingdom of heaven, privation of life eternal, of the beatific vision ; " no one can enter into the kingdom of God unless he be born again in Jesus Christ by baptism ; i Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' This is what faith teaches, but it goes no further. The Church leaves to the discussions of the schools the different opinions of theologians touching the fate of those who are excluded from the kingdom of heaven on account of original sin ; infants, for example, who die without having received the sacrament of baptism."1
Perrone speaking on this subject says, " We must distinguish the certain from the uncertain. What is certain, yea, a matter of faith, we have from the decisions of the Second Council of Lyons and the Council of Florence, both of which declare concerning infants and idiots : ' Credimus .... illorum animas, qui in mortali peccato vel cum solo originali decedunt, mox in infernum descen- dere, poenis tamen disparibus puniendas.' Ita quidem Florenti- num • in decreto Unionis,' quod descripsit verba Lugdunensis in fidei professione. De fide igitur est, (1.) parvulos ej usmodi in infer- num descendere seu damnationem incurrere ; (2.) poenis puniri dis- paribus ab illis quibus puniuntur adulti. Quae proinde spectant ad hunc inferni locum, ad pcenarum disparitatem, seu in quo haec disparitas constituenda sit, ad parvulorum statum post judicii diem incerta sunt omnia, nee fidem attingunt. Hinc variae de his sunt patrum ac theologorum sententiae." 2 Perrone goes on to show that the Latin fathers represent infants as suffering " pce- nam sensus ; " while most of Greek fathers say that they incur only " poenam damni," a sense of loss in being deprived of the blessedness of heaven. What that involves, however, he says is much disputed among theologians.
The Scriptural proof of this doctrine, as argued by Romanists,
1 Theologie Dogmatique, par S. t. le Cardinal Gousset, ArchevSque de Reims, 10th adit. Paris, 1866, vol. ii. pp. 95, 96.
2 Prcehctiones Theologicce, edit. Paris, 1861, vol. i, p. 494.
746 PART IV. Ch. I.— STATE OF SOUL AFTER DEATH.
is principally twofold ; the first is derived from the doctrine of original sin. They admit that the sin of Adam brought guilt and spiritual death upon all mankind. Baptism is the only means appointed for the deliverance of men from these dreadful evils. Hence it follows that the unbaptized remain under this guilt and pollution. The second great argument is founded upon John iii. 5, " Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." This Romanists understand as an explicit declaration that the unbaptized cannot be saved. On this, however, as on all other subjects, their main dependence is upon the decision of Councils and the testimony of the fathers. Besides the Councils of Lyons and Florence, both regarded as ec- umenical by Romanists, appeal is made to the canons of the Coun- cil of Trent, " Si quis parvulos recentes ab uteris matrum bap- tizandos negat, etiam si a baptizatis parentibus orti ; aut dicit in remissionem quidem peccatorum eos baptizari, sed nihil ex Adam trahere originalis peccati, quod regenerationis lavacro necesse sit expiari ad vitam aeternam consequendam. .... anathema sit." * The Synod of Carthage, A. D. 416, is also quoted, which decided:2 " Quicunque negat, parvulos per baptismum Christi a perditione liberari, et salutem percipere posse ; anathema sit." Although the councils declare that the souls of unbaptized infants descend immediately into hell, Cardinal Gousset remarks, it is to be re- membered that there are many departments in hell. There was one for the impenitent who died before the coming of Christ, and another for the souls of the righteous who awaited the advent of the Messiah ; so there is no reason for denying that there is still another for the souls of unbaptized infants. " We repeat," he says,3 " that neither the Council of Florence nor that of Lyons pronounces on the nature of the punishment of those who die with only the guilt of original sin, except to show that they are forever excluded from the kingdom of heaven." We can, there- fore, without going counter to the decisions of the Church, main- tain the sentiment which exempts such unfortunates from the punishment of hell, and the rather because the opposite opinion is generally abandoned, and this abandonment is in accord with Pope Innocent III., who, distinguishing between the punishment of original and of actual sin, makes the latter to be the pain of
1 Sess. v., canon 4; Streitwolf, vol. i. pp. 18, 19.
2 Quoted by Perrone, Preelections Theological, m. vi. 599 ; edit. Paris, 1861, vol. i. pp. 496, 497.
* Gousset, ut supra, p. 96.