SECTION I

THE EXISTENCE OF A PARTICULAR JUDGMENT
i. Definition. — By "judgment" we mean the investigation, sentence, and final order of a civil or criminal court. God pronounces judgment upon the soul immediately after its separation from the body. This Judgment is called Particular, to distinguish it from the General Judgment which takes place at the end of the world.
The essential point in the Catholic dogma of the Par- ticular Judgment is that the soul becomes aware of God's final decision immediately after death. In the General Judgment the emphasis rests rather upon the sentence as such. The Particular Judgment is not necessarily a formal sentence. It may be merely a clear perception of guilt or innocence, whereby the soul is moved of its own accord to hasten either to Heaven, or Hell, or Purgatory, according to its deserts. 1 The Scriptural
l Cfr. St Thomas, Summa Theol., carnis, per quod in statu viae de-
Supplem., qu. 69, art. a: " Sicut tinebantur, statim praemium const'
corpus per gravitatem vet levitatem quuntur vel poenam, nisi aliquid tm-
statim fertur in locum suum, nisi pro- pediat. . . . Et quia locus deputatur
hibeatur, ita animae soluto vinculo , animabus secundum congruentiam
THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 19
" Book of Judgment/' with its record of good and evil deeds, is a metaphor, 2 just like the description which pious writers give of the judgment scene, where the devil accuses, while the guardian angel either confirms the accusation or defends his former client.
Where the Particular Judgment will take place no one knows. Probably each soul is judged on the spot where it leaves the body. Though Divine Revelation does not expressly say so, we may assume that the God-man Jesus Christ will act as judge both at the Particular and at the General Judgment. 8
2. Proof from Revelation. — Sacred Scrip- ture teaches that the fate of each departed soul is decided before the General Judgment. If this is so, there must be a Particular preceding the Gen- eral Judgment. Calvin 4 and the Chiliasts hold that the fate of the departed souls remains un- decided till the second coming of Christ. The! Hypnopsychites maintain that these souls spend the interval between death and the General Res- urrection in a state of unconscious or semi-con- scious sleep, — a view which, Father Hunter thinks, is shared by most Protestants who have any conviction about the matter at all. 6 Eu-
praemii vel poenae, statim ut anima mite est, in eo instanti animam eogno-
absolvitor a eorpore, vel in internum scere sese iudicari et salvari vel
mergitur vel ad caelos evolat, nisi im- damnari imperio et % eftcientid non
pediatur oliquo reatu, quo oporteai solum Dei, sed etiam hommis
evolationem dilFerri, ut prius anima Christu"
purgetur." Unstit., Ill, is.
2 Cfr. St. Augustine, De Civitate f Cfr S. J. Hunter, S.J., Outlines
Dei, XX, 14. of Dogmatic Theology, Vol III, p.
8 Cfr. Suarez, De Myst. Vitae 430. Christi, disp. $2, sect a: " Verisi-
Digitized by
20
THE LAST THINGS OF MAN
sebius tells of a strange sect, called Thnetopsy- chites, who believed that the disembodied souls await the General Judgment in a state of tempo- rary annihilation. 6 The teaching of the Church is that the fate of every man is determined some- time before the General Judgment. 7
a) St. Paul says: "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment." 8 This text may be quoted in favor of our thesis, though it is not conclusive because we do not know for certain whether the Apostle refers to the Particu- lar or to the General Judgment. 9 A more con- vincing proof for our dogma is furnished by the parable of Lazarus, Luke XVI, 22: "And the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell." Dives must have been judged before he was pun- ished. The same is true of Judas, who, according to the sacred writer, "went to his own place." 10 Ecclesiastes says that the body "returns into its earth, from whence it was, while the spirit re- turns to God who gave it." 11
b) The teaching of the Fathers is in full ac- cord with that of Sacred Scripture. St. Augus- tine (to quote but one of them) says the departed souls are judged as they leave the body and before
tHisi. Eccles., VI, 37-