Authors/Henry of Ghent/Quodlibeta/Quodlibet I/Quaestio 22

Latin	English
QUAESTIO 22	QUESTION 22
[UTRUM PARVULUS DELATUS AD BAPTISMUM, MORTE PRAEVENTUS, DAMNETUR]	[Whether a child, brought to baptism, prevented by death, is damned]
Circa secundum arguebatur primo quod parvulus delatus ad ecclesiam, interim moriens, salvatur. Matth. VIlI° dicitur de ferentibus curandum ad Iesum: Videns fidem illorum misertus est eius et curavit eum, non tam in corpore quam in anima. Si ergo adulto potuit valere fides aliorum ad emundationem actualis peccati, multo fortius parvulo ad emundationem originalis.	Concerning the second, it was argued first that a child brought to the church, but meanwhile dying, is saved.  In Matthew VIII it is said of those bearing a person to Jesus to be cured, that seeing their faith, he took pity on the man, and cured him, and not just [?] in body but in the soul.  If therefore in an adult the faith of others can permit the cleansing of actual sin, much more in a child for the cleansing of original sin.
Contra. Ioannis Ill° dicitur: Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu Sancto, etc. Iste autem non sic est renatus. Ergo non intrabit in regnum.	Against. In John III it is said that unless a person is born again of water and the holy spirit etc.  The child is not born again, therefore he will not enter the kingdom of God
[175] [SOLUTIO]	[SOLUTION]
Dicendum ad hoc, non praeiudicando divinae potestati et ordinationi qua potest salvare quemlibet qualitercumque vult, talem parvulum et quemcumque alium, quod sicut in lege naturae non salvabatur parvulus nisi in fide parentum, in lege Moysi a die octavo per circumcisionem, sic in lege Evangelii secundum communem cursum divinae gratiae nullus salvatur nisi ablutus aquis baptismi, et hoc ex virtute edicti legis divinae. Modum autem et rationem iustitiae talis edicti impertinens est ad propositum intentum exponere.	It should be said to this - without prejudging the divine power and ordination by which [God] can save anyone in any way he wishes, [e.g.] such a child or any other - that just as in natural law no child is saved but by the faith of its parents, in the law of Moses on the eighth day by circumcision, so in the law of the gospel, according to the common course of divine grace, no one is saved unless washed in the waters of baptism, and this in virtue of of the pronouncement of divine law. But it is not pertinent to the case in hand to expound the mode or reason for the justice of such a pronouncement.
[AD ARGUMENTA]	[TO THE ARGUMENTS]
Ad argumentum in oppositum, dicendum quod secundum communem cursum gratiae prima gratia potest homini mereri per alios, ut per illam excitetur in libero arbitrio ad praeparandum se ad suscipiendam motu propriae voluntatis secundam gratiam. Et sic fides aliorum potuit illi adulto subvenire, sed non sine motu propriae voluntatis interveniente. Quia ergo parvulus nullum motum propriae voluntatis potuit adhibere, etsi primam gratiam recepisset merito fidei aliorum, ideo mediante illa non potuit secundum communem legem susceptionis gratiae secundam gratiam recepisse ad emundationem peccati originalis. Et sic non est simile de isto curato et illo parvulo. Si autem omnino fides aliorum illum curavit, hoc fuit gratia specialis, et talem potuit isti parvulo concedere et eum salvare, sed de hoc nihil habemus iudicare.	To the opposing argument, it should be said that according to the common course of grace, first grace can be deserving to a man through others, so that by that grace he is aroused in free will for preparing himself for receiving the second grace - by the action of his own will. And so the faith of others can help that adult, but not without the action of his own will intervening. Therefore, because the child cannot apply the action of his own will, even if he had received first grace by the merit of the faith of others, therefore, [even] with that [grace] mediating, he could not receive second grace for the cleansing of original sin, according to the common law of receiving grace. And thus the cases of the cured man, and the child, are not similar. But if the faith of others entirely cured that man, this was special grace, and this he could allow that child and save him. But of this we do not have to judge.