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Objection 1: It would seem that God's mercy does not suffer at
least men to be punished eternally. For it is written (Gn.
6:3): "My spirit shall not remain in man for ever because he is
flesh"; where "spirit" denotes indignation, as a gloss observes.
Therefore, since God's indignation is not distinct from His
punishment, man will not be punished eternally.
Objection 2: Further, the charity of the saints in this life makes
them pray for their enemies. Now they will have more perfect charity
in that life. Therefore they will pray then for their enemies who are
damned. But the prayers of the saints cannot be in vain, since they
are most acceptable to God. Therefore at the saints' prayers the
Divine mercy will in time deliver the damned from their punishment.
Objection 3: Further, God's foretelling of the punishment of the
damned belongs to the prophecy of commination. Now the prophecy of
commination is not always fulfilled: as appears from what was said of
the destruction of Nineve (Jonas 3); and yet it was not destroyed
as foretold by the prophet, who also was troubled for that very reason
(Jonas 4:1). Therefore it would seem that much more will the
threat of eternal punishment be commuted by God's mercy for a more
lenient punishment, when this will be able to give sorrow to none but
joy to all.
Objection 4: Further, the words of Ps. 76:8 are to the
point, where it is said: "Will God then be angry for ever? " But
God's anger is His punishment. Therefore, etc.
Objection 5: Further, a gloss on Is. 14:19, "But thou art
cast out," etc. says: "Even though all souls shall have rest at
last, thou never shalt": and it refers to the devil. Therefore it
would seem that all human souls shall at length have rest from their
pains.
On the contrary, It is written (Mt. 25:46) of the elect
conjointly with the damned: "These shall go into everlasting
punishment: but the just, into life everlasting." But it is
inadmissible that the life of the just will ever have an end.
Therefore it is inadmissible that the punishment of the damned will
ever come to an end.
Further, as Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii) "death is to men
what their fall was to the angels." Now after their fall the angels
could not be restored [FP, Question 64, Article 2].
Therefore neither can man after death: and thus the punishment of the
damned will have no end.
I answer that, As Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xxi,
17,18), some evaded the error of Origen by asserting that the
demons are punished everlastingly, while holding that all men, even
unbelievers, are at length set free from punishment. But this
statement is altogether unreasonable. For just as the demons are
obstinate in wickedness and therefore have to be punished for ever, so
too are the souls of men who die without charity, since "death is to
men what their fall was to the angels," as Damascene says.
Reply to Objection 1: This saying refers to man generically,
because God's indignation was at length removed from the human race by
the coming of Christ. But those who were unwilling to be included or
to remain in this reconciliation effected by Christ, perpetuated the
Divine anger in themselves, since no other way of reconciliation is
given to us save that which is through Christ.
Reply to Objection 2: As Augustine (De Civ. Dei xxi, 24)
and Gregory (Moral. xxxiv) say, the saints in this life pray for
their enemies, that they may be converted to God, while it is yet
possible for them to be converted. For if we knew that they were
foreknown to death, we should no more pray for them than for the
demons. And since for those who depart this life without grace there
will be no further time for conversion, no prayer will be offered for
them, neither by the Church militant, nor by the Church triumphant.
For that which we have to pray for them is, as the Apostle says (2
Tim. 2:25,26), that "God may give them repentance to know
the truth, and they may recover themselves from the snares of the
devil."
Reply to Objection 3: A punishment threatened prophetically is only
then commuted when there is a change in the merits of the person
threatened. Hence: "I will suddenly speak against a nation and
against a kingdom, to root out and to pull down and to destroy it. If
that nation . . . shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of
the evil that I have thought to do to them" (Jer. 18:7).
Therefore, since the merits of the damned cannot be changed, the
threatened punishment will ever be fulfilled in them. Nevertheless the
prophecy of commination is always fulfilled in a certain sense, because
as Augustine says (De Civ. Dei. xxi, 24): "Nineve has been
overthrown, that was evil, and a good Nineve is built up, that was
not: for while the walls and the houses remained standing, the city
was overthrown in its wicked ways."
Reply to Objection 4: These words of the Psalm refer to the
vessels of mercy, which have not made themselves unworthy of mercy,
because in this life (which may be called God's anger on account of
its unhappiness) He changes vessels of mercy into something better.
Hence the Psalm continues (Ps. 76:11): "This is the change
of the right hand of the most High." We may also reply that they
refer to mercy as granting a relaxation but not setting free altogether
if it be referred also to the damned. Hence the Psalm does not say:
"Will He from His anger shut up His mercies?" but "in His
anger," because the punishment will not be done away entirely; but
His mercy will have effect by diminishing the punishment while it
continues.
Reply to Objection 5: This gloss is speaking not absolutely but on
an impossible supposition in order to throw into relief the greatness of
the devil's sin, or of Nabuchodonosor's.
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