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Objection has often been made that perpetuity of
suffering, perpetuity of divine punishments, is
opposed to the perfection of divine justice, because
suffering should be proportioned to faults. If sin
lasts only a moment, how shall it merit eternal
punishment? Further, punishments, which should vary
with the sins punished, would be equal, because all
would be eternal. Finally, all punishment would be
much greater than the joy found in the sin.
St. Thomas [239] answers: "Suffering is proportioned,
not to the duration of sin, but to its gravity. A
deed of assassination, which lasts a few minutes,
merits death or life imprisonment. A momentary act of
betrayal merits permanent exile. But mortal sin has a
gravity without measure. Further, it remains as a
habitual disorder, in itself irreparable, which
merits punishment without end." [240]
Secondly, inequality in punishment remains. Though
equal in duration, pains are eternally proportioned
to their gravity.
Thirdly, punishment is proportioned, not to the false
joy found in sin, but to the offense against God.
The objection continues: But, if what religion tells
us is true, then divine justice demands the
annihilation of the sinner, whose ingratitude cancels
the benefit of existence.
Divine revelation alone can enlighten us here.
Revelation says, not that the damned are to be
annihilated, but that they are to be punished
eternally. God could of course annihilate, but He
does not. What He created, He also preserves. He
raises the body to life. Further, if every mortal sin
were punished by annihilation, all sins would be
equally punished. St. Thomas says: "He that sins
against God who gives him existence merits indeed to
lose that existence. Nevertheless, if we consider the
disorder, more or less grave, of the fault committed,
and then the affliction due to it, we find that the
proper punishment is not the loss of existence,
because this is presupposed for merit or demerit, and
therefore is not to be corrupted by the disorder of
sin." [241]
Let us listen to these admirable words of Father
Lacordaire: "The obstinate sinner wishes his own
annihilation, because annihilation would deliver him
from God, the just judge. God would be thus
constrained to undo what He has done, and that which
He has made to last forever. The universe is not
meant to perish. Shall, then, a soul perish simply
because it does not wish to acknowledge God? No. A
soul, the most precious work of the Creator, will
live on forever. You can soil that soul, but you
cannot destroy it. God, whose justice you have
challenged, turns even lost souls into images of His
law, into heralds of His justice." [242]
The Origenists maintained that the eternity of
suffering is opposed to infinite mercy, always ready
to pardon.
Let us listen to St. Thomas' reply. "God in Himself
is mercy without bounds, but this mercy is regulated
by wisdom, which forbids mercy to demons and to
demonized men. Yet even on these mercy is still
exercised, not to put an end to their sufferings, but
to punish them less than their merits demand." [243]
Again: "If mercy were not mingled with justice, the
damned would suffer still more. All God's ways are
mercy and justice. Certain souls exalt God's mercy,
others manifest His justice. And justice enters in
the second place, when divine mercy has been scorned.
Even then it intervenes, not to remove the suffering,
but to render it less heavy and painful. [244]
Further, this objection supposes that the damned
implore the mercy of God and cannot obtain it. The
truth is that the condemned soul does not ask pardon,
judges always according to its culpable inclination.
The only road to God is that of humility and
obedience, and such a soul, proud and obstinate,
refuses this road.
But, insists the unbeliever, God cannot will
suffering for its own sake, because it is an evil.
And if He wills it as correction, the pain inflicted
should not be eternal, it should have an end. And
suffering, since it is not founded on the nature of
things, is accidental, and hence should not be
eternal.
The Angelic Doctor [245] examines also this
objection. Medicinal suffering ordained for the
correction of those who are guilty, is indeed
temporary. But death and lifelong imprisonment are
punitive sufferings, not meant for the correction of
him who is thus punished. They become medicinal,
indeed, but only for others, who are thus turned away
from crime. In this sense hell has saved many souls.
The fear of hell is the beginning of wisdom. [246]
An objection: Pain, being contrary to nature, cannot
be eternal. St. Thomas answers: "Pain is contrary to
the soul's nature, but it is in harmony with the soul
as soiled by unrepented mortal sin. As this sin,
being a permanent disorder, lasts forever, the pain
due to the sin will also last forever." [247]
St. Thomas [248] proceeds: Eternal punishment
manifests God's inalienable right to be loved above
all else. God, good and merciful, has His delight,
not in the suffering of the damned, but in His own
unequaled goodness. The elect, beholding the radiance
of God's supreme justice, are thereby led to thank
Him for their own salvation. "God, [249] willing to
show His wrath and to make His power known, endured
with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for
destruction, that He might show the riches of His
glory in the vessels of mercy which He hath prepared
unto glory." [250]
Infinite goodness is the source both of mercy and of
justice: of mercy, because it is essentially
self-communicative, of justice, because it has an
inalienable right to be loved by all creatures.
What created hell? God's justice, God's power, God's
wisdom, God's love. Such is Dante's inscription on
the gate of hell:
Through me the way into the doleful City, through me
the way into the pain eternal, through me the way to
people lost to pity. Justice did move Creator mine
supernal, made me that power divine by evil hated,
wisdom supreme and first love sempiternal. [251]
Let Lacordaire conclude: "Had justice alone created
the abyss, there might be remedy. But it is love, the
first love sempiternal, which made hell. This it is
which banishes hope. Were I condemned by justice, I
might flee to love. But if I am condemned by love,
whither can I turn?
"Such is the fate of the damned. Love, that gave His
blood for them -- this Love, this same Love, must now
curse them.
"Just think! 'Tis God who came down to you, who took
on your own nature, who spoke your language, healed
your wounds, raised your dead to life. 'Tis God who
died for you on a cross. And shall you still be
permitted to blaspheme and mock, to enjoy to the full
your voluptuousness? No. Deceive not yourselves: love
is not a farce. It is God's love which punishes,
God's crucified love. It is not justice that is
without mercy it is love. Love is life or death. And
if that love is God's love, then love is either
eternal life or eternal death." [252]
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