CHAPTER IV.

THE LAST THINGS.

209. God earnestly and, as far as depends on Him, efficaciously wishes all men to be saved.

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1. St. Paul says: "I desire, first of all, that supplications, prayers, be made for all men. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. ii. 1-5). Since, therefore, God is the Creator and end of all without exception, and since He has given to all one Mediator, He must earnestly wish the salvation of all without exception.

2. Christ died for all (130). But the end for which He died was the salvation and sanctification of man (187). Therefore He desired the salvation of all.

3. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI. c. 13) teaches that we are all bound "to have the strongest hope in the help of God." But our hope can be strong only in the supposition that God will give to all the necessary help to be saved.

Since, therefore, God has given to all Christ, His Son, as one Mediator, who died for all; and since He has given to all the means of obtaining eternal happiness, with the intention that all should make use of them-He earnestly and, as far as depends on Him, efficaciously wishes the salvation, the supernatural happiness, of all.

The saving will of God extends also to infants who die without baptism, and are thus deprived of supernatural happiness (163). For if those whose duty it is to procure them the grace of baptism neglect or refuse to do so, this fact is not inconsistent with the will of God that they should be saved; for, according to the general design of God's providence, man cannot be saved without the cooperation of his fellow-men. Even in the case in which baptism is prevented by accidents or natural causes, which the power of man can

not avert, the earnest will of God to save all still exists; for God only permits the effects of such natural events, but does not send them with the intention of depriving those children of the grace of baptism. Nor have we any evidence that God is bound to change the natural course of events to make them partakers of His supernatural graces, as He is not bound to leave the sinner in the undisturbed use of reason to the last moment of life, although He has promised him the grace necessary for conversion (145).

God, earnestly wishing the salvation of all, did not, therefore, as Calvin taught, predestine some from the outset, without any regard to their sins, to eternal damnation. "[The Lord wills not] that any one should perish, but that all should return to penance" (2 Peter iii. 9). Scripture assures us that sin is the cause of damnation: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire; for I was hungry, and ye gave Me not to eat," etc. (Matt. xxv. 41, 42). God, it is true, decreed from all eternity that the wicked should be condemned; but on account of their sins, which He foresaw from eternity. Damnation is, therefore, man's own doing, because sin is man's work, not God's. Salvation, on the other hand, is the work of God and man. It is the work of God, because He destined eternal happiness to be our reward, because Christ merited it, and because we can obtain it only through God's grace; it is the work of man (to speak only of adults), inasmuch as he must co-operate with God. Salvation is therefore a grace, a reward, and an inheritance at the same time (150).

From the universal desire of God that all men should be saved it does not follow that He wills the salvation of all in the same way. While He wishes the salvation of all in such a way that they can be saved, He wishes the salvation of some in such a way that they will be saved. These latter are called the predestined (Rom. viii. 28–30), because God from all eternity decreed to confer upon them such graces with which He foresaw that they not only could, but infallibly would, co-operate and persevere to the end. They are called the blessed of the Father (Matt. xxv. 37), because such a loving providence is a special predilection of God towards them. They are called the elect (Eph. i. 3-5), because by this special divine providence they are privileged before those who receive grace sufficient for salvation, but by their own fault fail to co-operate with it. No one can without a special revelation know with infallible certainty whether he belongs to the number of the elect or not, as none can know whether or not he will co operate with God's grace and persevere to the end. "Wherefore, brethren, labor the more, that by good works you may make sure your calling and election” (2 Pet. i. 10).

210. After death, the end of our probation, follows the particular judgment.

1. The time of man's probation and merit ends with this mortal life. "The dust [shall] return into its earth from whence it was, and the spirit return to God who gave it "

(Eccles. xii. 7). Since man's earthly career ends with death, his soul, which is not of the dust, but created immortal by God, returns to God, its Creator and last end, to receive its recompense. Hence Christ exhorts us to work while it is day, before "the night [of death] cometh, when no man can work" (John ix. 4). Besides, there is no reason to believe that a new probation should follow after death. For in that case man, who is now urged on to virtue by the uncertainty. of death and the certainty of eternal retribution, would be tempted, by the prospect of a new probation, to indulge his passions in the present life and put off his conversion and the service of God till after death.

Hence the theory of the transmigration of souls is contrary, not only to Scripture, but to reason as well-particularly the belief that souls are transferred into other bodies to atone for sins of which they have no knowledge, or that human souls in punishment for their crimes are imprisoned in the bodies of animals-an existence and state which is altogether repugnant to their nature.

2. Immediately after death follows the judgment. "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ" (Phil. i. 23). The Apostle here expresses the confidence of receiving his reward immediately at his death; but the obtainment of the reward necessarily presupposes that his works should be acknowledged, in other words, that he should be judged.

When in the Mass for the dead the Church prays that God may not banish them into the place of darkness, that is, into hell, it does not suppose that the fate of those who die in mortal sin can be changed after judgment. But the Church places itself in spirit in the time before the soul quitted the body, and prays God to preserve the soul from eternal death.

211. After judgment the souls of those who are perfectly pure are forthwith admitted to the contemplation of God face to face.

1. The just shall enter into eternal life" (Matt. xxv. 46). Life here implies happiness; for existence without happiness is considered in Holy Writ rather death than life. This happiness, moreover, is to be eternal. "The just shall reign for all eternity” (Apoc. xxii. 5) Happiness, in fact, would not be happiness unless it were to last forever.

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2. The soul receives its reward immediately after the judgment, before its reunion with the body. "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ" (Phil. i. 23). The Apostle supposes no interval; besides, it is but reasonable that the soul should receive its reward before the resurrection of the body, since it was the soul rather than the body that labored for the reward. And if the wicked will be immediately after death hurried by the divine justice to eternal punishment, we cannot doubt that God in His goodness will give the just the recompense due to them.

3. The eternal happiness of the blessed consists in the contemplation of God face to face, or the beatific vision. "We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known" (1 Cor. xiii. 12). Now we do not see God directly, but only indirectly; all that reason knows and faith teaches us regarding the attributes of God is not presented to our mind as a visible object is to the eye; here below we know God only in His image. The finite perfections of the creatures present a feeble idea of the infinite perfections of the Creator (76). They only permit us to see God as in a glass, obscurely and in part. The blessed in heaven, on the other hand, know God in a manner altogether different from our imperfect knowledge-clearly, face to face. They know Him as He is. With this direct vision of God is coupled the intensest love of God; for the infinite beauty of Him whom the blessed contemplate in all His perfections draws them irresistibly to itself. Hence arises unspeakable delight; for the possession of a desired good produces joy in the soul. "Enter into the joy of the Lord" (Matt. xxv. 21). Contemplation, love, and joy, therefore, constitute the happiness of the blessed. But the chief of these is contemplation; for it is the cause of both love and joy. Contemplation is the possession of God; for we possess a thing when it is so present to us and so in our power that we can fully enjoy it. As we possess the sound of music by hearing, so we possess God by beholding Him face to face.

That man is created for happiness may be concluded from the existence in the human heart of an invincible desire for happiness; and that this happiness can only be found in God may be inferred from the imperfect and transitory nature of finite things, which, owing to their limited nature, can never satiate our longing. Reason, however, does not teach us that our eternal happiness consists in the vision of God face to face. Reason, on the contrary, tells us that such contemplation of God is beyond our natural capacity. By the very fact of his being created for the immediate intuition of God man is elevated to the supernatural order (110). In addition to the contemplation of God, and to the love and the joy thence resulting, the blessed enjoy other accessory goods which enhance their happiness. Such is the society of the angels and saints; and such shall be (after the resurrection) the delight and glory of the body and its senses.

4. The degree of happiness, or glory, is in proportion to the degree of merit. "He who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he who sows abundantly shall reap abundantly" (2 Cor. ix. 6). God being a just judge (2 Tim. iv. 7), and glory being a reward, He must confer it according to the merits of each one. The Council of Florence (decret. union. Graec.) teaches that "the souls of those who after baptism have never been guilty of sin, or who have been thoroughly c eansed from sin, are at once taken up into heaven, and there behold the Triune God as He is, face to face, according to the degree of their merit, but one more perfectly than another."

Though all the blessed behold God face to face, and, consequently, know Him so far as is possible to each one's capacity, yet they do not comprehend Him. Therefore, although they all behold the entire essence of God, they behold it with different degrees of clearness. The same may be said of their happiness: each one enjoys perfect happiness, both on account of his immediate intuition of God, and also because the happiness of each is commensurate with his merits, and, consequently, with his capacity. Hence it is that one may enjoy a higher degree of happiness than another. The happiness of the blessed, however, is not capable of increase or development; for the time of probation and of merit, during which grace and glory can be increased, is past (207).

212. Those whose souls are not perfectly cleansed undergo a process of cleansing in purgatory.

1. There is a state of purgation usually called purgatory. a. In the Old Testament we have the following fact recorded: