Глава VII

Why do some babies die before they are baptized? 31. However, those who believe that God has partiality, when, under equal circumstances, His mercy is bestowed on some, and His wrath remains on others, undoubtedly lose all the force of their arguments as soon as they talk about infants. I will not talk now about the fact that infants, even if they have just come out of their mother’s womb, are not excluded from that punishment, discussing which the apostle says: By the crime of one there is condemnation for all men; and no one delivers from this condemnation except Him alone, about whom the same apostle says: By the justification of one there is justification for life for all men 108 . So, I will now omit all this and say about babies only what the [Pelagians], frightened by the gospel authority, - or rather broken by the complete agreement of the faith of the Christian people, admit without any objection - [namely] that no baby will enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he is regenerated by water and the Spirit 109. And I will ask them what reason they will give why it is arranged so that one baby comes out of here baptized, and the other is delivered into the hands of unbelievers, or, [being born] to believers, dies before being brought by them for baptism? Will they really attribute this to fate or fate? I don’t think that they will fall into such madness if they have even the slightest desire to retain the name of Christians. The Different Destiny of Babies is a Mystery of Grace 32. So, why does not a single baby enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he has not taken the bath of regeneration (lavacrum regenerationis)? 110 Did he himself choose unbelieving or negligent parents from whom he was born? And what can I say about the countless number of unexpected or sudden deaths that often prevent the children of even Christian believers and deprive them of baptism; while, on the other hand, the children of the wicked and enemies of Christ, somehow falling into the hands of Christians, depart from this life not without the sacrament of rebirth? What will those say here who believe that the bestowal of grace must be preceded by some human merit, so that God does not show himself to be partial? 111 What merits preceded here? If you think about these babies themselves, then they have no personal [merits], and the mentioned mixture [of sin] is common to both; and if you turn to your parents, you will find good [merits] among those whose children die a sudden death without Christ’s baptism, and evil ones among those whose children, thanks to some stewardship of Christians, have achieved church sacraments. And yet the Providence of God, for whom even our hair is numbered, without whose will a small bird will not fall to the ground, 112 which is not suppressed by fate, which is not hindered by any vicissitudes of fate, which is not damaged by any injustice, did not take care that all the babies of his sons were reborn to a heavenly inheritance, but took care that some of the babies of the wicked were reborn. One baby, born of believing spouses, greeted with the joy of his parents, is crushed by his mother or nurse in a dream and thus finds himself expelled and excommunicated from the faith of his [parents]; another baby, born from criminal debauchery, is thrown out because of the cruel fear of the mother, is selected by the merciful piety of strangers and is baptized by them according to Christian tradition, so that he becomes the heir of eternity and a partaker of the Kingdom. Let them think about this, speculate about this, here let them dare to call God either partial in His grace, or rewarding for previous merits. The judgments of God's mercy and justice are incomprehensible. 33. After all, even if they can try to find some good or evil merits in those older in age, what will they say about these babies, of whom the first could not, by any personal evil merits, acquire the cruelty of the one who oppressed him, and the second could not, by any good merits, acquire the zeal of the one who baptized him? They will turn out to be too vain and blind if, having considered this, they do not consider it worthy to exclaim with us: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and unsearchable are His ways! 113 So let them not resist the free mercy of God in their overzealous madness. Let the Son of Man, regardless of a person's age, be allowed to find and save the lost 114; let them not dare to judge His incomprehensible judgments, [and ponder] why in the same case His mercy descends on one, and His wrath remains on another. J.-P. Migne. Paris, 1845. T. 33. Col. 874–891. Places with discrepancies were verified with the publication: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vindobonae, 1911. Vo1. 57. R. 176–214. Rom 5:18. In the Synod, trans.: Therefore, just as through one crime there is condemnation for all men, so through one righteousness there is justification for life for all men. Titus 3:5. In Synod.trans.: bathhouse of revival. Wed: Luke 19:10; Matthew 18:11. You might be interested in: