CHAPTER I

DEATH
i. Definition of Death. — "Death," 1 in common as well as Scriptural usage, means the cessation of life.
a) There is a threefold life (physical, spiritual, and eternal), and hence there must be a threefold death.
(1) Physical death consists in the separation of the body from the soul;
(2) Spiritual death is the loss of sanctifying grace, caused by original or mortal sin ; 2
(3) "Eternal death" is a synonym for damnation. St. John* calls damnation "the second death;" 4 St Paul, "eternal punishment,"* "corruption," 6 "destruc- tion."'
St. Augustine says : " Though Holy Scripture mentions
1 Mors, e&rarof. « Mors secunda, Mrtoos B&raTOS-
2 Cfr. Cone. Trident., Sets. V, S "OXtBoor altar tor, (2 Thea*. I, can. a: " ptccatum quod os\ mors 9).
onimoe." «**o*4. (Gal. VI, 8).
a Apoc. II, 11; XX, 6, 14; XXI, 8. r 'Amftcta. (Phil. Ill, 19).
5
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THE LAST THINGS OF MAN
many deaths, there are two principal ones, namely, the death which the first man [Adam] incurred by sin, and that which the second man [Christ] will inflict in the judgment." 8 Here bodily death and the loss of sanctifying grace are comprised under one term, as an effect of original sin. Of course, the loss of sanctifying grace • and eternal damnation can be called " death " only in a figurative sense.
b) Literally death means the cessation of bod- ily life, caused by the separation of the soul from the body. 10 It is principally in this sense that Eschatology is concerned with death.
The Biblical names for death are as various as they are significant. Some are derived from the symptoms that at- tend the separation of the soul from the body ; e. g. " disso- lution," 11 " end," 12 " outcome," 11 " return to the earth," 14 etc. Others point to original sin as the cause of death ; for instance, "work of the devil,"" "the enemy," 1 * " what God hath not made," 1T etc. Belief in immortality is more or less evident from such phrases as " sleep," 18 stripping off the earthly house of habitation, 19 the " lay- ing away of this tabernacle," 20 going to the fathers, 21
8 Opus Imperfect, e. Iulian., VI, 31 : " Quamvis multae mortes in- veniantur in Scripturis, duae sunt praecipuae: prima et secunda; prima est quam peccando intulit primus homo [Adam], secunda est quam iudicando illaturus est secundus homo [ChristusV
fApaprta rpos B&parop. (Cfr. 1 John V, 16).
10 Cfr. St Augustine, De Civ. Dei, XIII, 6: " separatio animae a cor- pore" — Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 7 (Migne, P. C, IX, 500) :
4 0dwaros . • . xwpiapubt fvxrjf dwb atbfjtaros-
11 Phil I, 231 a Tim. IV, «.
i2Matth. X, 22.
it Heb. XIII, 7.
14 Gen. Ill, 19.
15 John VIII, 44. i« 1 Cor. XV, 96. it Wiad. I, 13.
is Job III, 13; Pi XII, 4; Matth. IX, 24. 19 2 Cor. V, 1. so j Pet I, 14. at Gen. XV, 15 and eltewhere.
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resting from labor, 1 * the return of the spirit to God." The * latter class of appellations is by far the most important, since it presupposes belief in the immortality of the soul. ' While the body decays or returns to the dust from which it was formed, the soul lives on for ever. Its separation from the body is merely temporary : at the general Resur- rection the two will be reunited. 24
The state of the soul after its separation from, and until its reunion with, the body must not be conceived as an unconscious dream or a sort of semi-conscious " soul-sleep 99 (hypnopsychy, psychopannychy), but as a purely spiritual life, accompanied by full consciousness and determined as to happiness or unhappiness by the result of the particular judgment held immediately after death."
2. The Dogmatic Teaching of the Church. — Divine Revelation teaches that:
(1) Death is universal;
(2) It is a result of sin; and
(3) It ends the state of probation.
Thesis I: Death is universal.
This proposition embodies the common teach- ing of Catholic theologians.
Proof. That death is universal we know from experience. Furthermore reason tells us that it is natural for man to be separated into his constit- uent elements, body and soul.
a) Physiology teaches that every body contains within itself the germs of. dissolution and hence is doomed to die.
tsApoc XIV, 13. U V. infra, Part II, Ch. It
n fecit!. XII, f , II V, infrc, Sect t, pp. ft 144,
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When death comes as the result of old age, it is called "natural" or " physiological." 26 Sacred Scripture ex- presses a fact of ordinary and universal experience when it calls death " the way of all the earth " 27 and teaches that " It is appointed unto men once to die." 28 Not even Christ and His Immaculate Mother were exempt from death.
b) Certain exceptional cases reported in Sacred Scrip- ture give rise to the question whether the universality of death is metaphysical or merely moral, in other words, whether all men must die, or whether some escape the ordinary fate of mankind.
a) Thus we are told that Henoch, the father of Ma- thusala, " was translated, that he should not see death ; " 29 he "walked with God, and was seen no more, because God took him." 80
Of Elias the prophet we read that, as he and his friend Eliseus were walking and talking together, "a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 81
It seems certain that these two men are, as St. Augus- tine puts it, still " living in the same bodies in which they were born." 82 But there is no reason to suppose that they will escape the law of death. Since Tertullian's time it has been a pious belief among Christians that Enoch and Elias are the two witnesses mentioned in the Apocalypse, 88 that they will reappear at the end of the
26Cfr. H. Kisbert, Der Tod aus AltersschwUche, Bonn 1908; Flint, Human Physiology, p. 849, New York 1888.
27 Jot. XXIII, 14; 3 Kings II, 2.
2tHeb. IX, 27: "Statutum est kominibus stmtl tnori." Cfr. Ps. LXXXVIII, 49: "Quis est homo, qui vivet et non videbit mortemf "
2»Heb. XI, 5.
aoCfr. Gen. V. 24; Ecclus. XLIV, 16; XLIX, 16.
•14 Kings II, 11.
32 D/ Peccato Origmali, II, 24: " Eliam et Henoch non dubitamus, in quibus nasi sunt corporibus, vi- vers"
28 Apoc. XI, 3 sqq.
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world to preach penance and finally be " overcome by the beast," i. e. die as martyrs to the faith. 84
ft) Concerning the just who will survive on earth at the second coming of our Lord, St. Paul teaches : " Be- hold I tell you a mystery: we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed." M The Vulgate renders this passage differently : " We shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed." ,e But the Greek text has in its favor the famous Vatican codex, most of the uncial and practically all the cursive manuscripts and vernacular versions. 8 * 7 Besides, the reading we have adopted is
«4Cfr. Tertullian, De Anima, 50: " Nec mors tor urn reperta est, dilata scil.; ceterum morituri reservantur, ut Antic hristum sanguine suo extin- guant." (Migne, P. L., II, 735). However, as this interpretation is contradicted by St Jerome (Ep. 110 ad Minerv. et Alex., n. 4) and oth- ers, it is not entirely certain.
«b 1 Cor. XV, $1: Udpret (Uv ov KOifi7}0yj(r6fi€$af w&vret tie dXXa- yrjaSfieda.
*• " Onmes quidem resurgemus, sed non omnes immutabimur."
•7 Cfr. C. Lattey, S.J., in the Appendix to the Westminster Ver- sion of 1 Cor.; Comely, Comment, in I Cor., pp. 506 sqq., Paris 1890; Al. Schafer, Erklarung der beiden Brief* an die Korinther, pp. 334 sqq., Munster 1903; J. MacRory, The Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinth- ians, P. I, pp. 251 sqq., Dublin 1915. Speaking of the reading which we have adopted, Dr. MacRory (p. 25a sq.) says: "It is supported by B E K L P among uncials, by nearly all the cursive MSS., by the Syriac, Coptic, Gothic versions, as well as by many MSS. of the Aethiopic; it was the reading of not a few Latin MSS. in the time of St. Jerome, end it |t the reeding known
to practically all the Greek Fathers. On the ground of external evidence, therefore, this reading is far the most probable. But internal evidence is almost more in its favor, for accord- ing to this reading (a) there is a mystery here, namely, that some shall be changed and put on im- mortality without passing through, death, (b) the Apostle, as in the rest of the chapter, refers only to the just, either all the just of all times if we render: 'we shall not all sleep'; or all the just alive at the Second Coming if we render: 'none of us shall sleep'; (c) the connexion with the next verse is easy and natural : ' we shall not all die but we shall all be changed in a mo- ment,' etc. We take it, then, that this is the true reading. Nor need there be difficulty about admitting an error in our Vulgate about even a dogmatic text like this, the reading of which was uncertain not only at the time of the Council of Trent but even in the days of St. Jerome. Trent, indeed, binds us to receive as sacred and canonical the sacred books with all their parts, as they were wont to be read in the Catho- lic Church and are contained in the Old Letfn Vulgate (Sees, Deer.
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THE LAST THINGS OF MAN
demanded by the context. " In the previous verse," says Father Lattey, " St. Paul lays it down that the body in its present perishable condition cannot enter heaven. At once the difficulty arises about the just who are alive at the last day. St. Paul meets it by telling of a ' mystery ' ; these just, it is true, will not die, but none the less their bodies will have to be glorified — all the just, living or dead, will be changed. When the dead rise incorruptible, we, the living, shall be changed; our corruptible bodies will put on incorruption. After that supreme moment, death will have lost all power over man; human bodies will be perishable no more." 88
This plausible interpretation is confirmed by the fol- lowing passage in Saint Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians : " For this we tell you as the Lord's word, that we who live, who survive until the -Lord's coming, shall not precede them that are fallen asleep (dortnierunt) , . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first (primi, vpurov). Thereupon (deinde) we the living, who remain, shall together with them be caught up (simul rapiemur cum Hits) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall be ever with the Lord." 88
It is but fair to add, however, that these two Pauline texts have been variously interpreted. St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and apparently also Tertullian, 40 taught that the just who survive on the last day shall be glorified without having died. St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and
de can. script). But the Vulgate version of this verse was never read throughout the Catholic Church, be- ing apparently unknown in the East, and hence even if the single verse be a * part 9 of Scripture in the sense intended by the Council, vt art frtt to rtjtet tht Vulfttt
reading of it (Cf. Corn., Introd. Gen., p. 456 ff.; Comptnd., p. 114 ff.)»
18 Cfr. C. Lattey, Appendix I to t Cor., p. 52.
•a 1 Thess. IV, 14 sqq. (West- minster Version).
40 £# R$nrr$cHoni Ctrnb, 41, 4«.
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ii
others held that they shall die and slumber a while before being summoned to the Last Judgment. The majority of Catholic divines, in view of St. Paul's teaching fhat all who have sinned in Adam must die, 41 prefer to steer a middle course. 42 They hold that while all men must die, some will survive until immediately before the Gen- eral Judgment. This teaching is favored by the Roman Catechism 4 * and many modern exegetes.
c) Whichever opinion one may prefer in regard to the question here at issue, it is certain that even if Henoch and Elias did not and never will die, the debt of death (debitum mortis) rests upon all the descendants of Adam. "It is held with greater probability and more commonly," says St. Thomas, "that all those who are alive at the com- ing of our Lord, will die and rise again after a short while. ... If, however, it be true, as oth- ers hold, that they will never die, . . . then we must say . . . that although they are not to die, the debt of death is none the less in them, and that the punishment of death will be remitted by God, since He can also forgive the punishment due for actual sins." 44 The only human beings ex-
4iCfr. Rom. V, ia iqq.
42Cfr. Oecumenius, in Migne, P. G., CXVIII, 894: "Istud 'non omnes dormiemus' hoc modo opor- tet ac tip ere quod non dormiemus diuturnd dormitione (r^v XP 0PIK $ P Kolpriffiv), ut opus sit sepulchro ac solutione ad corruptionem; sed pre- vent mortem sustinebunt, qui tunc reperientur."
48 P. I, c. 12, qu. 4.
44 Summa Theologica, xa 2ae, qu. 8x, art. 3, ad i: *' ProbabUius et \ convenientius tenetur, quod omnes ) UK qui in adventu Domini reperien- tur, morientur et post modicum re- surgent. . . . Si tamen hoc verum "\ sit, quod alii dicunt, quod UK nun- ) quam morientur, dicendum est quod . . . est tamen in eis reatus mortis.
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empt from this law are Jesus Christ and His blessed Mother, though they too, actually paid tribute to death.
Thesis II : Death in the present economy is a pun- ishment for sin.
This proposition embodies an article of faith. Proof. It is the dogmatically defined teach- ing of the Church that our first parents were endowed with bodily immortality, 45 but lost this prerogative for themselves and their descendants through sin. 46
God solemnly forbade Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. "In what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death." 47 By transgressing this command our first parents incurred death. Thus, in the words of the Apos- tle, "by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned." 48 Therefore, "the wages of sin is death." 40 \ Long before St. Augustine, as the latter assured ; Julian, 80 the Fathers considered the causal con- ' nection between sin and death to be an article of • faith. 51
Sed poena aufertur a Deo, qui etiam 47 Gen. II, 17; cfr. Gen. Ill, 19.
peccatorum actualium poenas con- 48 Rom. V v 12.
donare potest." 49 Rom. VI, 23; cfr. 1 Cor. XV,
4sCfr. Syn. MUev., A. D. 416, ax, 22. can. 1. 50 Contra lulian., 1. II.
46 Cfr. Syn. Arausic. II, can. a; »i For the teaching of the Fathera Cone. Trident., Seta. V, can. 2. on thia point aee Ginella, De No-
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The atonement wiped out sin and thereby enabled man to escape the "second death," i. e. eternal damnation. But the gift of bodily immortality was not Restored. 52 It is true death loses the character of a punishment through Baptism, because, in the words of the Tridentine Fathers, " there is no condemnation to those who are truly buried together with Christ by Baptism into death." M But the debitum mortis remains as an effect of sin (poenalitas), which God wisely allows for the purification of the just. Only in the case of Christ and His Blessed Mother death was neither a punishment (poena) nor an effect of sin (poenalitas)**
Thesis III: Death ends the state of probation, that is, after death man can neither merit nor demerit
This thesis embodies what is technically called "doctrina catholica"
Proof. Death ends the state of pilgrimage (status viae) and inaugurates the state of final consummation (status termini), which by its very definition excludes the possibility of further merit or demerit. It is true we cannot prove that this must necessarily be so ; but we know it is so by virtue of a positive divine law. 65
The impossibility of acquiring merits after death must
tione atque Origin* Mortis, % % »8 Cone. Trident., Sess. V, can. 5.
Breslau 1868; for the post- Angus- 54 Sec Pohle-Preuss. Christology,
tinian period, cfr. Casini, Quid est pp. 72 tqq. v and Mario logy, pp. 73
Homo?, ed. Scheeben, pp. 59 sqq., aqq.
Mayence 1862.— See also Pohle- bb That this law is both congru-
Preuss, God the Author of Nature ous and in accordance with nature
and the Supernatural, pp. 286 sqq. is convincingly shown by Ripalda,
»«Cfr. Rom. V, 18 aqq. D$ Ente Supernaturali, disp. 77.
THE LAST THINGS OF MAN
not, however, be conceived as a cessation of free will. At their entrance into the status termini the Elect as well as the damned once for all decide either for or against God ; but within the state thus definitively chosen, each re- tains full liberty of action.
a) As Christ ceased to acquire merits after His death, so a fortiori will man. Death inau- gurates "the night when no man can work." M Ecclesiastes compares man in this respect with a tree: "If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be." 57 St. Paul 58 says every man will be judged according as he hath done good or evil "in the body." 5 * St. Cyprian teaches that no one can do penance or make satisfaction after death. 60 St. Augustine declares : "It is in this life that all merit or demerit is acquired. . . . No one, then, need hope that he shall obtain after death that which he has neglected to secure here." 61 The Catholic Church has embodied this revealed doctrine in her dogma of the Particular Judgment."
66 Cfr. John IX, 4; Matth. XXIV, 42; XXV, 13.
67£ccle6. XI, 3: "Si cecidaril lignum ad austrum out ad aquilo- nem, in quocunqu* loco ctcidtrit, ibit nit."
66 j Cor. V, 10.
66 r& M rov mfytarot.
60 Ad Demetr., 25: " Quaudo isthinc txcessum futrit, nullus tarn poenitentio* locus, nullus satisfoc-
tionit eifectus: hie vita out amiHi- tur aut Unetur"
61 Enchiridion, c. 110: " Nemo se speret, quod hie ncgUxerit, qxtum obierti, afud Dcum promereri" — The unanimous teaching of theolo- gians on this point it well developed by Ripalda, De Ente Supernoturali, disp. 77. 1 sqq.
62 See infra, Ch. 2, pp. 18 sqq.
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b) It is the opinion of St. Bonaventure, Ripalda, and Vasquez that the Elect in Heaven and the poor souls in Purgatory can merit and apply for the benefit of others certain praemia accidentolia. But this assumption is opposed to the analogy of faith. The power of inter- cession which the just wield in the world beyond is based entirely upon merits previously acquired in the state of pilgrimage. 6 *
Hirscher's view that those who have wavered for a } long time between God and the world, and finally die in the state of mortal sin, will be allowed to make their final decision in the next world, is contrary to the dog- matic teaching of the Church. 64
c) From what we have said it follows that nothing is so well calculated to demonstrate the hollowness of the world and to preserve us from becoming unduly attached to it, as the pious consideration of death. Our earthly life is merely a " pilgrimage," 65 a " journey/' 66 and we are to make use of the things of this world only in so far as they aid, or at least do not hinder us in attaining our supernatural destiny. 67 There is much in the thought of death to comfort us. Death ends all our sufferings and trials. 66 But the hour when we shall be called hence is un- certain, 66 and therefore we must watch and pray and strive always to be in the state of sanctifying grace. Mortal sin is the only thing that can prevent us from attaining our last, end, which is the beatific vision of God. 70 If we are
6«Cfr. St Thomas, Comment, in Theohgte der Vorsext, Vol II. and
Sent., Ill, dist x8, qu. I, art. 2: ed., pp. 427 sqq., Muniter 1872. " Beati non sunt in statu eequirendi «• 2 Cor. V, 6. secundum allquid sui; et ideo nee 66 Jos. XXIII, 14; Wisd. Ill, 3. sibi nec oJiis msrentur. quia, quod «7Wisd. V, 1 sqq. impetrant modo nobis, contingit ex Ma Cor. IV, 16 sqq.; Apoe. XIV,
hoc quod prius, dum viverent, 13.
meruerunt ut hoe impetrorent." 69 Matth. XXIV, 4a; Luke XII, 39
64 Hirscher's error is refuted by eq., and elsewhere. Father Joseph Kleutf en, S.J., In Die 70 Cfr. Luke XXI, 34*
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in the state of grace we can face death unflinchingly. 71 That the fear of death is so deeply ingrained in human na- ture, 72 is owing partly to sin and partly to the instinct of self-preservation. 78 The immortality which our first par- ;ents enjoyed in Paradise was a free gift and its loss is a punishment. Death and the fear of death are entirely natural. 74 Nevertheless, the thought of death should not discourage, but rather incite us to spend the short span of existence granted us here below for the benefit of our own souls and those near and dear to us. 75 We must not, because life is short, seek sinful pleasures after the ex- ample of the ancient pagans, who had no hope of Heaven. 76 On the other hand, we should not despise the things of this world. It would be folly to neg- lect our earthly affairs in order to devote all our time to works of piety. Every loyal Catholic should, on the contrary, do his share in advancing the interests of true progress and culture and thereby help to disprove the oft-repeated calumny that the Church is inimical to the world. 77 The more we accomplish in this world, if we have the right intention, the more confidently may we meet death. Ora et labora! 79
Readings : — Ginclla, De Notione atque Origine Mortis, Breslau 1868.— Card. Bcllarmin^ De Arte bene Moriendi, 1620
Tl Phil. I, 21 sqq.
72 2 Cor. V, 4; Heb. II, 15.
Tl Cfr. St. Augustine, Serm., 172, c. 1: "Mortem horret non opinio, sed nature"
74 Cfr. St Thomas, Summa TheoL, 1 a aae, qu. 164, art 1 : " Mors est naturalis propter eondHionem naturae et poenolis propter amissionem rft- vini beneHcii praeservantis a morte."
75 Cfr. Eccles. IX, 10.
7« Cfr. Reisacker, Der Todesge- danke bei den Grieehen, Treves
i86a; F. Hettinger, Apologie dee Christentnms, Vol. II, 9th e pp. S3 sqq*, Freiburg 1907.
77 Cfr. Leo XIII, Encyclical " Jm- mortal* Dei," Nor. 1, 1885: "Into intrtiae desidioeque mimiea Eceletia magnapere vult, ut hominum ingenia uberes ferant exereitatione et cultura fruetus."
78 Cfr. A. A. Cataneo, Vorberei- tung auf einen guten Tod, 3 vols., Ratisbon 1888-91; Weber, Evange- lism und Arbeit, Freiburg 1898.
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(German tr., Die Kunst su sterben, by F. Hense, 2nd cd., Pader- born 1888). — C. M. Kaufmann, Die Jenseitshoffnungen der Griechen and Romer nach den Sepulkralinschriften, Freiburg 1899. — Idem, Die sepulkralen Jenseitsdenktnaler der Antike und des Urchristentums, Mayence 1900. — S. J. Hunter, S.J., Outlines of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. Ill, pp. 425-429.