eternal fire ; the former, the simple loss of the beatific (or intui- tive) vision : " Poena originalis peccati est carentia visionis Dei, actualis vero poena peccati est gehennae perpetuae cruciatus."1 On the following page he says, " We will go still further, and say with St. Thomas, that although unbaptized infants are deprived forever of the happiness of the saints, they suffer neither sorrow nor sadness in consequence of that privation." It is a matter of rejoicing that the doctrine of Romanists on the condition of un- baptized infants in a future life has admitted of this amelioration, although it is hard to reconcile it with the decisions of councils which declare that the souls of such infants do at death immedi- ately descend into hell, if that word be understood according to the sense in which it was generally used when those decisions were made. The current representations of the theologians of the Latin Church are against this modified form of the doctrine. The Council of Trent anathematizes those who say that baptism is not necessary for the expiation of original sin ; as that of Carthage those who affirm that it does not save infants from perdition. Romanists, however, of our day, have the right to state their doc- trine in their own way, and should not be charged with holding sentiments which they repudiate.
Hell.
Hell is defined by Romanists as the place or state in which the fallen angels and men who die in a state of mortal sin, or, as it is also expressed, of final impenitence, suffer forever the punish- ment of their sins.
That the punishment of the wicked is unending they prove from the express declarations of Scripture, from the faith of the Church universal, and from the general belief of men. As to the nature of the sufferings of those who perish, they say they are those of loss ; they are deprived of the favour, vision, and pres- ence of God ; and those " of sense," or of positive infliction. To this latter class are to be referred such sufferings as arise from wicked passions, from remorse and despair, as well as those which spring from the external circumstances in which the finally condemned are placed. Whether the unquenchable fire of which the Bible speaks, is to be understood literally or figuratively, is a question about which Romanists differ. Gousset proposes the question, and says that it is one on which the Church has given no decisions. " It is of faith," he says, " that the condemned
1 Innocent III. Caput "Majores" de Baptismo.
748 PART IV. Ch. L — STATE OF SOUL AFTER DEATH.
shall be eternally deprived of the happiness of heaven, and that they shall be eternally tormented in hell ; but it is not of faith that the fire which causes their suffering is material. Many doc- tors, whose opinion has not been condemned, think that as ' the worm which never dies ' is a figurative expression, so also is 4 the fire that is never quenched ; ' and that the fire means a pain analogous to that by fire rather than the real pain produced by fire. Nevertheless the idea that the fire spoken of is real ma- terial fire is so general among Catholics, that we do not venture to advance a contrary opinion." *
Into this place and state of endless misery do pass, at death, all who die out of the pale of the Catholic Church ; all the un- baptized (at least among adults) ; all schismatics ; all heretics ; all who die impenitent, or in a state of mortal sin, that is, sin the penalty of which is eternal death, which has not been remit- ted by priestly absolution.
Heaven.
Heaven, on the other hand, is the place and state of the blessed, where God is ; where Christ is enthroned in majesty, and where are the angels and the spirits of the just made perfect. Those who enter heaven are in possession of the supreme good. M The happiness of the saints above is complete ; they possess God, and in that possession they find perfect rest, and the enjoy- ment of all good." Their blessedness is perfect because it is everlasting. They see God face to face. They will eternally love Him and be loved by Him. " Beatitudo, quae etiam sum- mum bonum aut ultimus finis nuncupate, a Boetio 2 definitur : 4 status bonorum omnium congregatione perfectus ; ' a S. Augus- tino,3 4 Bonorum omnium summa et cumulus ; ' a scholasticis autem : 4 summum bonum appetivus rationalis satiativum., " 4 It is, therefore, heaven in the highest sense of the term, into which the saints are said to enter.
There are, however, degrees in this blessedness. " The elect," says Cardinal Gousset, " in heaven, see God in a manner more or less perfect, according as they have more or less of merit, l pro meritorum diversitate,' as it is expressed by the Council of Florence, which agrees with the woids of our Lord, who says, 4 In my Father's house are many mansions.' "5 Into this only a
1 Gousset, ut supra, p. 160.
2 Consolatio Philosophies, Lib. iii, prosa 2; Lyons, 1671, p. 107.
8 Enarratio in Psalmum, ii. 11 ; Works, Paris, 1835, vol. iv. p. 8, c.
* Perrone, ut supra, vol. i. p. 467. 6 Gousset, p. 132.