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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 [238] 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." [239]
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." [240]
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." [241]
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." [242]
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. [243]
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 [244] 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. [245]
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." [246]
St. Thomas [247] 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, [248] 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." [249]
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. [250]
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." [251]
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