Chapter 30.—Why One is Baptized and Another Not, Not Otherwise Inscrutable.

Now those very persons, who think it unjust that infants which depart this life without the grace of Christ should be deprived not only of the kingdom of God, into which they themselves admit that none but such as are regenerated through baptism can enter, but also of eternal life and salvation,—when they ask how it can be just that one man should be freed from original sin and another not, although the condition of both of them is the same, might answer their own question, in accordance with their own opinion of how it can be so frequently just and right that one should have baptism administered to him whereby to enter into the kingdom of God, and another not be so favoured, although the case of both is alike. For if the question disturbs him, why, of the two persons, who are both equally sinners by nature, the one is loosed from that bond, on whom baptism is conferred, and the other is not released, on whom such grace is not bestowed; why is he not similarly disturbed by the fact that of two persons, innocent by nature, one receives baptism, whereby he is able to enter into the kingdom of God, and the other does not receive it, so that he is incapable of approaching the kingdom of God? Now in both cases one recurs to the apostle’s outburst of wonder “O the depth of the riches!” Again, let me be informed, why out of the body of baptized infants themselves, one is taken away, so that his understanding undergoes no change from a wicked life, 93    Wisdom iv. 11. and the other survives, destined to become an impious man? Suppose both were carried off, would not both enter the kingdom of heaven? And yet there is no unrighteousness with God.94    Rom. ix. 14. How is it that no one is moved, no one is driven to the expression of wonder amidst such depths, by the circumstance that some children are vexed by the unclean spirit, while others experience no such pollution, and others again, as Jeremiah, are sanctified even in their mother’s womb;95    Jer. i. 5. whereas all men, if there is original sin, are equally guilty; or else equally innocent if there is original sin? Whence this great diversity, except in the fact that God’s judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out?

30. Nam et hi quibus videtur injustum ut parvuli sine gratia Christi de corpore exeuntes, non solum regno Dei, quo et ipsi fatentur nisi per Baptismum renatos intrare non posse; verum etiam vita aeterna et salute priventur; quaerentes quomodo justum sit ut alius ab originali impietate solvatur, alius non solvatur, cum eadem sit utriusque conditio: ipsi respondeant secundum suam sententiam, quomodo identidem justum sit ut huic praestetur Baptismus, quo intret in regnum Dei, illi non praestetur, cum sit utriusque par causa. Si enim movet, cur ex his duobus, cum ex aequo ambo sint originaliter peccatores, alius ab hoc vinculo solvitur, cui conceditur Baptismus; alius non solvitur, cui talis gratia non conceditur: cur non pariter movet , quod ex duobus originaliter innocentibus, alius accipit Baptismum, quo in regnum Dei possit intrare; alius non accipit, ne ad 0126 regnum Dei possit accedere? Nempe in utraque causa ad illam exclamationem reditur, O altitudo divitiarum! Ex ipsis deinde baptizatis parvulis, dicatur mihi, cur alius rapitur, ne malitia mutet intellectum ejus (Sap. IV, 11); et alius vivit, impius futurus? Nonne si ambo raperentur, ambo in regnum coelorum ingrederentur? Et tamen non est iniquitas apud Deum. Quid? illud quem non moveat, quem non in tanta altitudine exclamare compellat, quod alii parvuli spiritu immundo vexantur, alii nihil tale patiuntur, alii etiam in uteris matrum, sicut Jeremias, sanctificantur (Jerem. I, 5); cum omnes, si est originale peccatum, pariter rei sint; si non est, pariter innocentes sint? Unde ista tanta diversitas, nisi quia inscrutabilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus?