About babies snatched away prematurely by death. To Ieriy

Composition by St. Gregory of Nyssa “On babies prematurely abducted by death. To Ierios" is addressed to the prefect of Cappadocia, Ierios. The treatise examines two questions: why God allows evil people to live to a ripe old age, while others leave this life as soon as they begin, and why God allows children to die prematurely. Answering the first question, St. Gregory writes that God, who creates everything with wisdom, also knows how to do something good through evil, showing His justice on evil people. The saint further explains that by allowing the premature death of children, God foresees what the child may become in his subsequent life. About the afterlife fate of unbaptized babies St. Gregory says that, although they do not immediately inherit the fullness of bliss, they are not subject to torment. *The title of the work in Greek is Περὶ τῶν πρὸ ὥρας ἀναρπαζομένων νηπίων. *The title of the essay in Latin is De infantibus praemature abreptis. To you, valiant man, all the poets and writers will, of course, show you the power in words, embarking, as if in some kind of field, to describe your many wonderful deeds; because any important and extensive subject, about which even the word is lofty, exalted by the greatness of deeds, when it is proposed strong in word, usually makes the speech somehow even more eloquent. But we, like outdated horses, remaining outside the field in which they compete, will only strain our ears to the competitions, the speeches made about you, whether any sound from a word flying on a swift and swift chariot will reach us when describing your wonderful deeds. since it happens that a horse, although due to old age remains outside the lists, is often excited to zeal by the tramp of gallopers, raises its head, looks as if ready to rise, breathes irritably, often moves its legs, hitting the platform with its hooves, and its only zeal to rise, and the strength to run has long been exhausted by time; In a similar way, our word, in old age, not entering into competition and yielding the field to the stronger in learning, shows you one zeal with which I would like to fight for you, if my strength flourished, like those who have now become strong in the word. The proof of my zeal is not to tell anything about your affairs: for in this a strong and intense word will hardly succeed, and it will not remain much below dignity, interpreting this inexplicable harmony of character, dissolved from opposites. Just as nature, with its overhanging eyebrows, setting off the pure brilliance of the rays, brings dissolved light to the eyes, so that the radiance of the sun becomes more pleasant, in proportion to the need, dissolved by the shadow of the eyebrows: so sedateness and loftiness of law, combined in moderation with humility, do not turn away the eyes of those who look at it, but make them look with pleasure, so that the splendor of sedateness is not darkened, and what is hidden within is not disdained for humility, but in any one of these the other is equally seen—in the lofty, simplicity, and, conversely, in the humble, sedateness. Let another describe this and glorify the many-purity of the soul: the hairs on the head are perhaps equal in number to the eyes of the soul, seeing everywhere equally quickly and accurately so that they see the distant and do not remain ignorant of what is close, and do not expect useful experience as a teacher; but on the contrary, he sees one thing with the eyes of hope, knows another from memory, and observes another in the present, and all this together, without mixing it up, brings into execution all such actions in relation to the divided mind. Let him again marvel at the venerable wealth of poverty, who in our age knows how to count such things as praise and miracles. But perhaps, if this did not happen before, then now for your sake the love of poverty will flourish, and instead of the multi-talented plinths of the Croesovs, you will be pleased that you yourself have become like a plinth; for whom has the land and sea shown so many to be blessed, supplying them with what they supply? Just as those who clean rust from iron make it light and silvery, so in you the ray of life has become more clearly visible, constantly being diligently cleansed from monetary rust. Let this be left to those who are strong in speech, and also how well you know that in some cases it is more glorious to take than to be clean from bribes. For let me boldly say that you do not despise all bribes: but what of those who took before you no one could touch, that alone you grab with both hands: for instead of any clothes, or slaves, or money, you take the very souls of men, and put them in the treasury of love. Let the wordsmiths and poets portray this, who set out to decorate themselves by eloquently describing something like this; and our old word only moves to such an extent that, step by step, we can solve with your wisdom the task proposed to us: what should we know about those who are kidnapped prematurely, whose birth almost comes into contact with death? And the wise of the pagans, Plato, on behalf of one who came to life, having spoken a lot about the judgments beyond the grave, inserted this unexplained, obviously because this is a decision; and if not, then you will, without a doubt, excuse your old age by accepting our zeal to do something pleasant for you. For this same Xerxes, who almost turned the entire sunflower into a military camp, and did not take the whole universe with him when he took up arms against the Greeks, with pleasure, as history says, accepted a gift from a poor man, and the gift was water, not brought in a vessel, but captured in the hollow of his hand. So, in accordance with your inherent height of spirit, you will, without a doubt, imitate the one for whom will has become a gift, even if our gift turns out to be small and watery. Just as in heavenly miracles both the learned and the simple man, whoever happens to turn his gaze to heaven, equally sees visible beauties, but they understand them differently, one is driven by wisdom, while the other leaves what is visible to only the senses. He watches or enjoys the rays of the sun, or recognizes the beauty of the stars as worthy of surprise, or observes the number of days of the lunar course in a month. And the first, a perspicacious soul, who has purified himself by learning to understand celestial phenomena, abandons what the foolish are amused by, turns his gaze to the harmony of the universe, observes the good agreement of those moving in the opposite direction in the circular motion, namely, how the inner circles make the opposite movement with regular rotation - how the stars seen on them take on diverse forms, with their approaches, distances, passages below, eclipses, movements along sides, always the same and equally producing continuous harmony; With them, the position of even the smallest star does not go unnoticed, but everything arouses equal care in those who, through wisdom, have placed their minds in the things above. Likewise, you, my venerable head, turning your gaze to God in the existing economy, bypass what is occupied by the thoughts of many (I mean wealth, arrogance, the desire for vain glory, which, shining like rays, amazes the usually unreasonable), but even, apparently, the least important of what is noticed in the existing world, you do not leave unexamined, looking for and considering the dissimilarity in humanity. life, not only revealed in wealth and poverty, or in the difference in merits and genders (for you know that this is insignificant because it does not exist in itself, but in the vain opinion of people who are surprised at what does not exist as if it were real; why, if someone who is shining with glory takes away the respect of those who have this in mind, nothing will remain for the one who thought highly of empty pomp, even if he happened to have everything from which money is made buried) But you have the concern to know something else as well. in God’s economy, what is the direction of every event in the world, why does one person’s life continue until a distant old age, while another uses life for so long to breathe air once and immediately stop living. If there is nothing in the world without God, it still depends on God’s will, and the Divine is wise and providential: then, of course, there is a reasonable reason for this, containing signs of God’s wisdom and at the same time providential care. For what happens in vain and without a reasonable reason will not be God’s work: because it is characteristic of God, as Scripture says, to create “all wisdom” (Ps. 103:24). Therefore, what is wise in this? Man entered life at birth, breathed air, began life with a cry, repaid his debt to nature with a tear, brought crying to the beginning of life, and before he tasted the pleasures of life, before he developed feelings. Not yet possessing the connections in the members, weak, with fragile, even with not fully formed members, in a word, before he became a man (unless the distinctive property of a person is the gift of reason, and this one has not yet contained reason within himself, nothing more than the name that belonged to him in his mother’s womb, except for one appearance in the air), and at this age he is struck by death, or thrown, or strangled, or who committed suicide due to illness life. What should we think about him? How to judge the deceased in this way? Will this soul also see the Judge? Will he stand trial with others? Will you be judged for what you have done in life? Will she receive reward according to her worth, either she who is purified by fire, according to the word of the Gospel, or who is cooled by the dew of blessing (Luke 3:17)? But I don’t know what to understand about such a soul: for the word “reward” means that something must certainly be brought in advance; but whoever has not lived at all has nothing that he could bring, and where there is no giving, the word reward is not used in its proper sense: and when there is no reward, then what is intoxicated is neither good nor evil: because what is meant by one or the other of the two names promises retribution. And what is not classified as either good or evil, then without a doubt does not belong to anything; because in such an opposition there is no middle ground between extremes, I mean between good and evil, and one who has not begun either will not have either of them. Therefore, whatever is neither good nor evil, someone else will say that it does not exist at all. And if this means that something is such and belongs to good, then since God gives and does not reward such good, what will be the reason for such an allotment? On what basis will the justice of this be proven? How will the agreement of thought with the words of the Gospel be demonstrated? It says there that those worthy will have a certain conditional purchase of the kingdom: since, it is said, you have done this and that, for this you will receive the kingdom. And here, since there is no action or will, is there any reason to say that this too will be the reward hoped for from God? If someone, without research, accepts the opinion that one who departs from life in this way will certainly be a partaker of blessings, then it will turn out from this that it is more blessed than life not to be a partaker of life: if for someone who died in infancy, the participation of blessings is undoubted, even if he was born of barbarians, or was conceived from an illegal marriage, and for someone who lived at a certain time legalized by nature, without a doubt, the filth of vice is mixed into life more or less; or, if he intends to be completely out of communication with evil; then for this very thing he needs a lot of sweat and labor, because it is not without effort that one who strives for it succeeds in virtue, and it is not without difficulty that people become alienated from pleasures in such a way that someone who enjoys a long life must certainly suffer one of two griefs, either in the present life to struggle with the many difficulties of virtue, or in the future to suffer from the rewards of sorrows for a vicious life. But for those who die prematurely there is nothing like it. On the contrary, those who die prematurely are immediately met with a good lot, if only the opinion of those who think so is true. Therefore, as a result of this, unreason will appear to be preferable to reason, and virtue will therefore appear worthless. For if there is no loss in the communion of goods for one who does not participate in virtue, then it is a vain and useless matter to work for it, when at the judgment of God the unreasonable state takes precedence. All this and the like, thinking about it in your mind, you order to investigate the opinion about it, so that as a result of the search, our thought about it is settled in some solid concept. And I, noting the impenetrability of the understanding offered to us, I think that this apostolic word is applicable to this speech, in which he spoke about the incomprehensible, saying: “Oh, the abyss of wealth and the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Rom. 11, 33, 34). since the Apostle also says that it is the nature of the spiritual to judge everything (1 Cor. 2:15), and he approves of those. whom the grace of God has enriched “in all speech and all understanding” (1 Cor. 1, 5), then I think it would be good not to neglect the feasible research and not to leave the question of this unanalyzed and unconsidered, so that, like the subject of the task, the conversation about it does not turn into something still imperfect, or immature, similar to some newborn baby, like him, before it came into the world and strengthened in strength, as if from death, perishing from laziness without the strong to find the truth. Therefore, I believe that it would be good not to suddenly, following the example of the champions and wrestlers, enter into an oral competition, but on the contrary, having given the speech some order, consistently review the proposed issue. What order is this? First, find out where human nature comes from and why it came into existence. For if we do not make a mistake in this, then we will not make a mistake in the review ahead of us. Everything is from God, everything that after Him among the creatures in nature we imagine and see as having existence, it would be superfluous to prove this in words, because I think none of the creatures who have delved into reality at all will dispute such an opinion. Everyone recognizes that everything depends on one cause, and not one of the beings has existence from itself, and does not serve as its own beginning and cause: on the contrary, One Nature is not created and is eternal, always the same and has the same thing above any spatial representation, does not increase or decrease, and appears to transgress any limit. His business is the time, and the place, and everything that is in them, and if anything else before this, intelligent and worldly, is comprehended in thought. One of the created natures is human nature, as we affirm, as a guide to this using a certain word of inspired teaching, which says that, after bringing everything into existence by God, man also appeared on earth, a nature dissolved from a foreign nature, while the Divine and spiritual essence entered into unity with the share assigned to him of each element. Man was brought into existence by the creator so that he could be animated by some semblance of Divine and supreme power. But it’s better to imagine the saying itself, which reads like this: it is said: “And God created man, in the image of God created him” (Gen. 1:27). The reason for the structure of this living being, some of those who were before us, represented the following: the whole creation is divided into two parts, as the Apostle says, into “visible and invisible” (Col. 1:16); By invisible is meant what is intelligible and incorporeal, and by visible is what is perceptible and corporeal. So, since all beings are divided into these two parts, that is, into the sensory and into the intelligible, and since the angelic and incorporeal nature, which belongs to the invisible, dwells in places of the highest and most heavenly, since the habitat is in accordance with nature (spiritual nature is a kind of subtle, pure, not heavy and easily mobile, and the heavenly body is subtle, light, ever-moving), and the earth, which constitutes something extreme in the sensual, is unusual and indecent for the presence on it of intelligible creatures (for what kind of communication will there be between the upward and light one rushing upward and the heavy and oppressive downward), so that the earth does not remain completely without a part and share in the existence of spiritual and incorporeal natures, for this purpose human nature was brought into existence by the best providence, when the spiritual and Divine essence of the soul is clothed with the earthly part, so that, in accordance with this part, akin to the oppressive downward and bodily, the soul lives in the earthly element, which has something close and homogeneous with the essence of the flesh. The purpose of what was created is that in all creation, the highest Power of all should be glorified by the spiritual nature, when the heavenly and earthly by one and the same action, I mean turning the gaze to God, are united with each other towards the same goal. This same action - turning one's gaze to God - is nothing other than life, characteristic and consistent with spiritual nature. For just as bodies, being earthly, are supported by earthly foods, and in them we notice a certain kind of bodily life that occurs equally in the dumb and verbal: so it must be assumed that there is a certain life comprehended by the mind, by which nature is maintained in existence. If carnal food, being something flowing in and out, by its very passage imparts a certain vital force to those in whom it occurs; then the communion of what truly exists, always abiding and eternally unchanging, does not it much more preserve the partaker in being? Therefore, if the life characteristic and proper to the spiritual nature is that of being a partaker of God; then communion between opposites will not occur unless the one who desires communion is in some way akin to that which is being participated. For just as the eye delights in light, because in itself it has natural light for the perception of what is similar to it, and neither the dust nor any other member of the body produces vision, because in no other member is it prepared by nature for light: so in order to become a partaker of God, it is absolutely necessary in the nature of the one who partakes to be something akin to that of which it partakes. Therefore the Scripture says that man was created in the image of God, so that, as I think, like may look upon like; turning one's gaze to God, as said above, is the life of the soul. since ignorance of the truly good, like some kind of fog, somewhat darkened the visual power of the soul, and the thickened fog became a cloud, so that the ray of truth did not penetrate into the depths of ignorance, then with the removal of light, the soul and life necessarily became impoverished. For it is said that the true life of the soul is produced by the participation of good things, and with ignorance that prevents the knowledge of God, the soul, not being a partaker of God, is deprived of life. No one demands from you a genealogy of ignorance, asking: where does it come from, and from what? On the contrary, from the very meaning of the name, let him understand that knowledge and ignorance show that the soul has some relation to something. But nothing intelligible or predicable about anything expresses the essence. For there is a different concept of what relates to something, and a different essence of something. Therefore, if knowledge is not essence, but a circumferential action of thought, then even more so ignorance must be recognized as being far removed from what is in essence; and what is not in essence does not exist at all. Therefore, it would be in vain to find out where it comes from about something that does not exist. So, since Scripture says that the communion of God is the life of the soul, and communion, insofar as it is comprehensive, is knowledge, while ignorance is the failure to realize something, and on the contrary, the withdrawal of the activity of knowledge, and as soon as the communion of God was not fulfilled, alienation from life necessarily followed, this would be the extreme of evils; then, as a result of this, the Creator of all good works in us to heal from evil (for healing is good), but of course the method of healing is not known to those who do not turn their gaze to the Gospel sacrament. Therefore, as has been proven, it is bad to be alienated from God, Who is life: then the assimilation of God and entering again into life serves as a cure for such an ailment. And since this life is offered to human nature in hope, it cannot be said in the proper sense that communion of life is a reward for previous good deeds, and vice versa a punishment for bad deeds. On the contrary, what is stated is similar to what was said in the example about the eyes. For we do not say that it is any reward or distinction for those who have pure vision to understand what is visible, or, on the other hand, for someone who is sick with eyes, it is a punishment or punitive consequence that he is deprived of visual activity. On the contrary, because for whom everything is naturally located, it is necessary to see, but for those who are taken out of their natural position by illness, their vision remains inactive; so, similarly, a blessed life is akin to and characteristic of those who have sensitive souls, and for those who have the disease of ignorance, like some kind of pus, serves as an obstacle to communion with the true light, for this it is a necessary consequence to not have a part in that, the participation of which we call life for the one who partakes. And with such a division of these concepts, it is time for us to begin to study in words the proposed question. Something similar to this was said. If the retribution of benefits is done fairly; then the number will be the one who ended his life in infancy and during the continuation of this life did neither good nor evil, so that for this he would be rewarded according to his dignity? To this, looking at what follows from what has been examined, we answer that the expected good, although by nature, is characteristic of the human race; however, in a certain sense it is also called retribution. And this idea will be made clear again by the same example. Suppose in a word that two people have vision, beset by some kind of illness, and one of them devoted himself with great care to healing, enduring all the prescriptions of the medical art, no matter how difficult they were: and let the other be inclined to the point of intemperance in baths and drinking wine, not accepting any advice from the doctor for preserving the health of the eyes. Therefore, looking at the end that befalls both, we say that both will worthily receive the fruits of their will, namely the deprivation of light for one, and the enjoyment of light for the other. For what necessarily follows, we call retribution through imprecise usage. This can also be said in response to the question about infants: the enjoyment of this life is characteristic of human nature: but as almost everyone living in the flesh suffers from the disease of ignorance; then he who has cleansed himself with proper healing, and, as if some pus has washed away ignorance from his spiritual eye, worthily enjoys the benefits of healing, entering into a life that is natural for him, while he who avoids the cleansing means of virtue and seductive pleasures makes the disease of ignorance incurable in himself, due to an unnatural disposition, is alienated from what is natural, and becomes not having a part in the life characteristic and proper to us; an infant who has not been tempted in evil, since no illness prevents his spiritual eyes from receiving the light, remains in a natural state, having no need for cleansing to restore health: because in the beginning he did not accept illness into his soul. And it seems to me that his real way of life is somewhat similar and close to the expected life. For just as the first infancy is brought up by being nourished by the breast and milk, then this food is followed by another, in accordance with the age, characteristic and suitable for the one being fed, until he comes to perfection: so, I think, the soul also participates in the life inherent in its nature in a certain order, and in sequence, always through what is appropriate for it, as much as it can accommodate and can, accepting what is offered in bliss, as we learned similar things from Paul, who feeds differently the one who has already grown in virtue, and differently the child and the imperfect. For to such he says: “I fed you with milk, and not with solid food, for you were not yet strong” (1 Cor. 3:2), but to those who have fulfilled the measure of spiritual age: “solid food is characteristic of the perfect, whose senses are trained by skill” (Heb. 5:14). Therefore, it is impossible to say that the husband and the baby are in the same state, if no illness has touched either one or the other of them (for how will he who does not partake of the same thing experience equal pleasure?): “On the contrary, although it is said about the husband and the baby in the same way that they do not suffer from any illness, as long as both are not subject to passion, yet the pleasure of the pleasant is not equally accomplished in them” (the husband can to have fun with words, to be the first in business, to pass through positions of authority with praise; to be glorified by his good deeds to those in need, to cohabit with a wife if he likes it, to manage the house, to have all the pleasures that can be found in this transitory life, entertaining for the ear and sight, fishing, baths, bodily exercises, feasts, fun, and if there is anything else like this, and the fun of a baby is milk, the embrace of a nurse; and quiet movement, inducing sleep and delighting; the imperfection of age cannot contain any other joy that would be higher than this). In this way, those who have educated souls with virtue in this life and, as the Apostle says, have trained their spiritual “senses,” if they move into this disembodied life, then, according to the skill and strength that they have acquired, they will partake of divine pleasure, more or less, according to the real strength of each, participating in the blessings that are presented. The soul, which has not tasted virtue, although it remains unparticipated in evil, the consequences of sin, as at the beginning still not overcome by the illness of vice: in that life, which the previous word defined as consisting in the knowledge of God and communion with God, it participates for the first time as much as it can accommodate what is nourished, until, as if by some decent food, brought into courage by the contemplation of the Existing One, it becomes spacious for the big ones, freely and abundantly partaking of what really exists. Looking at this, although we affirm that the soul is equally free from evils, the consequences of sin, both of those who walk in every virtue and those who have had no part in life at all, we do not imagine the life of both of them being identical. For one, as the Prophet says, heard the stories of heaven, by which the glory of God is proclaimed (Ps. 18:2) and was a guide to creation to know the Lord of creation, and used the wisdom seen in creatures as a teacher of real Wisdom, imagining the beauty of this light, by similarity he mentally imagined the beauty of the true Light, and by the hardness of the earth he learned to recognize the immutability The One who created it, thinking about the immeasurable size of the sky, was himself brought into the infinity and unlimitedness of the all-encompassing Power, while seeing the solar souls reaching us from such heights, he became convinced that the providential actions of God are not powerless to descend from the heights of the Divine to each of us. For if the luminary, being one, with a common luminous power embraces everything that is subject to it, and devoting itself to everyone and to those who use its light, it appears to everyone as whole and indivisible; - how much more so is the Creator of this luminary, and there is “all things in all,” as the Apostle says (1 Cor. 15:28), and is inherent in everyone, communicating Himself to the extent that it contains the recipient. And who, having seen on earth an ear and a shoot of a plant, and a ripe bunch, and the beauty of autumn in fruits or flowers, and a freely flowing grain, and a mountain with its top stretching into an ethereal height, and in the foothills springs, flowing like nipples from the voids in the mountain, rivers flowing along channels, a sea that receives streams from everywhere and remains in its own measure, limiting the waves to the shores, this is a sea that does not protrude beyond established limits on land - paying attention to this and the like, does not neglect in the mind everything that serves to study Existence, even if he has stored up little strength to participate in this pleasure? I will remain silent about those sciences by which the mind is encouraged to virtue, about geometry, about astronomy, about the knowledge of truth with the help of numbers, about every way of proving the unknown and confirming the understood: first of all, about the wisdom of the inspired Scripture, which produces complete purification in the Divine mysteries taught by it. But whoever has not acquired knowledge of any of this, has not been guided by the world to understand the world’s superior blessings, but has gone through life in some way weak, untrained, uneducated in mind, will not be in the same state in which the word depicted the one presented before him, so from this, according to the contrast we have outlined, one who has not tasted life will not be more blessed than the one who lived well. For the one who lived wickedly will be happier not only if he was not tempted in evil, but also if he did not initially enter into life. We learned something similar from the Gospel word about Judas, namely, that in this case not to exist at all is better than existing in sin (Matthew 26:24); for for one, due to a deeply rooted vice, the purifying punishment will continue indefinitely, but how will the torment touch the non-existent? But if someone compares an infant and immature life with a virtuous life, then such a person, pronouncing such a judgment about creatures, is not mature himself. So you ask: “why is someone at that age driven out of life”? What is achieved through this by the providence of Divine Wisdom? But if you are talking about children who serve as a denunciation of lawless conception, and are therefore destroyed by those who gave birth, then it would be unfair to demand an account of wicked deeds from God, who subjects what is not done well to judgment. If, however, one of those raised by parents and enjoying protective care for them and diligent prayers for them, nevertheless does not enjoy life because of an illness that overcomes death (this, without a doubt, is the only reason); then we guess about something like this like this: perfect providence is characteristic not only of healing the revealed infirmities, but also of providing for someone who initially does not fall into the forbidden. For it is right for Him who knows the future equally with the past to prevent the continuation of the baby’s life to adulthood, so that by the power of foreknowledge the evil foreseen will not be committed if the baby remains alive, and so that the life of the one who will live with such will does not become food for sin. And this idea is not difficult to imagine in any example. Suppose that some kind of treat of any kind is supposedly offered at a feast, the order is given by one of the feasters who knows exactly the properties of everyone’s nature, and what is proper for such and such a body composition, and what is harmful and uncharacteristic; and he was given a certain kind of authorized power, according to his own will, to allow one, and to prohibit another from eating what was offered, and to do everything so that everyone, according to his constitution, touched what was appropriate for him, and a sick person did not arouse illness in himself by eating food, adding food to it, and a strong person did not suffer from food unsuitable for him, falling into aggravating polysoma. At the same time, one of those addicted to drunkenness is taken out, either halfway through the feast, or at the beginning of intoxication, or remains until the end of the supper, as the steward decides about it, so that the meal is sufficiently decent, without the bad consequences of satiety, intoxication and darkness in the mind. Therefore, as if distracted from enjoying the smell of seasonings, he does not gladly accept the deprivation of what he likes, but condemns the manager for some kind of recklessness, as if out of some kind of envy, and not out of foresight, he is holding back from what is offered; if he looks at how, with continued consumption of wine, they behave indecently, feeling nauseated, heaviness in the head and saying what they should not; then he acknowledges his gratitude to the one who previously did not allow such indecency to become immoderately satiated. So if we understand this example, then it will not be difficult to extend the principle hidden in it to the proposed thought. For what was offered to us? Why does God, when parents make great efforts to preserve a successor in life, often allows what is born at the end of life to be stolen prematurely? To those who object in this way, we answer with this example of a feast, that for the meal of life there is a lot of food of all kinds, understand this, like those experienced in the art of cooking, that not everything in this life is sweetened with the honey of pleasure. On the contrary, it sometimes happens that life is seasoned with cruel events, just as artificers manage to give pleasure to the belly at feasts, arousing in those being treated the desire for something spicy, or salty, or astringent. So, since life is not in everything sweet like honey, but in other cases the prepared food is either salty, or astringent, or sour, or some pungent and caustic quality felt in the circumstances of life makes its seasoning inedible, and seductive bowls are filled with all kinds of food: some with seductive arrogance produce the passion of arrogance, others drive drinkers to eclipses of the mind, and in others they provoke the eruption and shameful return of acquired evil. Therefore, so that, with such a preparation of the meal, the one who uses it at the feast does not slow down, not as he should, he is rather removed from the gathering of those being treated, acquiring the benefit that he does not reach the state, the cause of which for the insatiable is the immoderation of pleasure. This is what I call a good deed of perfect providence, not only to heal a discovered passion, but also to put an obstacle to it before it is discovered. Here is our thought about the death of those recently born, namely: He who does everything with reason, out of love for mankind, takes away food from vice, not giving time to the will, provided for by the power of foreknowledge, to reveal itself by deeds in the excess of vice, which it reaches when it has a desire for evil. Often, the founder of the life's feast denounces the artificial necessity of the love of money in similar ways, so that, as I think, the disease of the love of money turns out to be naked from its plausible veils, unobscured by any false veil. For many say that this is why they expand their desires for more, in order to make those born by them richer. And this is their own illness, not arising from need, which exposes the covetousness of the childless, devoid of any pretext. For many, not having and not hoping to have an heir to what they worked so hard for, instead of many children, harbor thousands of wishes, not knowing to whom to lay the need for this illness. But others lead their lives badly, they are tormentors, cruel in their will, enslaved to all lewdness, irritable to the point of fury, ready for any incurable evil, robbers, murderers, traitors to the fatherland; and what is even more criminal than this, parricides, matricides, child killers, with fury, indulge in lawless mixtures, and being such, grow old in these vices; How can someone else say that he agrees with what was found above? For if those who are prematurely snatched away by death, so that, as was said in the example, not until the end of the feast, they indulge in the passions of this life with insatiability, by foresight they are taken away from the feast of life; then why does such a person, until old age, commit outrages at a feast, lavishing a bad mixture of evils on himself and his fellow feasts? Why, without a doubt, you will say, one is providentially put out of life before the will is perfected in evil, while the other is left to become such that it would have been better for him not to come into existence at all? To this, we will give some answer to those who are more conscious: often the life of those who have lived well is the reason for a better fate for those who descended from them. There are thousands of testimonies to this in the inspired Scriptures, from which we clearly learn that those descended from them also participate in God’s favor shown to the worthy. But the main good will be to become an obstacle to vice for someone who, without a doubt, would begin to live viciously. And since here we are talking about guessing about the unknown, no one, of course, will accuse that a guess leads the thought to many conclusions. For others will say that God, not out of mercy only for the ancestors, brings out of a bad life the one who will live a bad life, but if nothing like this had happened to those who were kidnapped prematurely, then it is not unreasonable to think that there would be more dangers from the vicious life they led than from the life of each of those who became known for their bad deeds during its continuation. Because nothing happens without God, as we have learned from many things, and again, what is done according to God’s economy is not accidental and not unreasonable, as everyone who knows that God is reason, and wisdom, and every virtue, and truth confesses. But what comes from reason is not unreasonable, and what comes from wisdom is not ignorance: both virtue and truth will not tolerate the unvirtuous and alien to the truth. Therefore, for the above reasons, others are abducted prematurely, or is there something other than what has been said: of course, one must agree that this happens for a better purpose. But, taught by apostolic wisdom, I also know some other reason why some, who by their own will have surpassed others in vice, are left in life. Having occupied himself with such a thought for a long time in his word to the Romans and opposed to himself the naturally following objection that it would be unfair for the vicious to remain in response if it is from God that he is bad, no matter how, of course, he was, if it were against the will of the Ruler of creatures, the Apostle thus meets this thought with a deep look, resolving the objection. He says that God gives everyone their dignity, and sometimes gives a place to vice for a better purpose. For for this reason he allowed the Egyptian tormentor to come into being and become such, so that Israel, this great people, surpassing all numerical understanding, would be taught by his defeat; because God's power is equally known in everything when it is sufficient to benefit the worthy and punish the wicked. since this people certainly had to be expelled from Egypt, so that they would not have any communication in the bad qualities of the respectful life of the Egyptians; Therefore, this very God-fighter, known for all evil, Pharaoh, during the life of those blessed by God, rose and prospered, so that when the twofold action of God is worthily divided into one and the other, Israel acquired a special knowledge, studying for themselves the better fate, and seeing the sorrowful one for those punished for vice; since God, by his abundance of wisdom, knows how to turn evil into the promotion of good. For an artist (if it is necessary for our words to confirm the apostolic word), when he shapes iron with his art into some useful tool in life, it is not necessary to use only one which, due to some natural softness, is easily inferior to art, but although iron is extremely stubborn, although it is not quickly softened in fire, and due to its hardness and hardness it is impossible to make from it a vessel used in life, art also seeks its assistance. For he uses such iron on an anvil, so that by striking it, from something useful and soft, he can beat out something useful for use. But another will say: “not everyone in this life has suffered punishment for their worthlessness, and even those who live virtuously, not everyone in this life uses labor for the sake of virtue.” Therefore, he will ask, what benefit do they have from those who lived viciously and were not punished? And I will give you a reason for this that is higher than human thoughts. For the great David in one place of his prophecy says that for the valiant, a certain part of the joy is the following, when, in contrast to the benefits that are assigned to them, they see the death of the condemned. “The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked” (Ps. 57:11) - not because he rejoices in the torment of those who mourn, but because then he will especially recognize what the worthy gain from virtue. For what has been said means that the virtuous way to increase and enhance joy is to compare opposites. This expression “he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked” contains the idea that the purity of his activities in life is proven by the death of sinners. For the phrase “will wash” expresses the idea of ​​purity. No one is washed by “blood”, but on the contrary is desecrated: why does this make it clear that the opposition of the unpleasant shows the bliss of virtue. So this word must be summarized in a short speech, so that the studied thoughts become easier for the memory. The premature death of infants does not lead to the thought that the one who ended his life in this way is unhappy, or that he is equal to those who have purified themselves in this life with every virtue; because God, according to His best providence, prevents the immensity of evil in those who would begin to live in evil. And the fact that some of the evil ones live long does not refute the idea expressed; because by mercy to those who give birth, evil is not allowed to reach them. But those who did not have any boldness before God from their parents do not pass on this type of benefit to those descended from them. Or the one whom death prevented from becoming bad, would have turned out to be much worse than those who have become famous for depravity, if he had begun to live badly without restraint. Or, if some have reached the most extreme measure of depravity; then the apostolic view of this calms inquisitiveness by the fact that He who creates everything with wisdom knows how to do something good through evil. If someone has reached the extreme in a bad life, and according to the example we have given, he has not been forged into anything useful by the art of God, then this serves to increase the joy of those who lived well, as the prophecy makes clear, which should not be considered by anyone as an unimportant blessing and as unworthy of God’s providence. You might be interested in: