24. See Rom 9:11.
414 The Literal Meaning ofGenesis
27. Here I must confess that I have not yet heard, or even read anywhere up till now, what case in answer to this the others can make for their own point of view, those, that is, who are trying to maintain in accordance with the holy scriptures, as either the doctrine which is to be found in them, or at least does not go against them, that new souls, not derived from parents, are given to bodies. That, surely, is no reason for abandoning the cause of absent parties, if anything should occur to me by which it could be assisted. They can still answer, you see, that God knows in advance what kind of life each soul would live if it lived longer in the body, and that he makes sure the bath ofsalvation (Ti 3:5) is administered to the soul which he foresees would lead such a loving and loyal life were it to come to the years capable of faith, if it did not now, for some hidden cause, have to be overtaken by death.
A hidden secret it is then, and utterly beyond human ingenuity—well certainly beyond mine—to unravel, why an infant should be born which is immediately or very soon going to die. But it is so hidden as to assist neither of the parties between which we are now trying to decide. We have already, you see, hooted off the stage the opinion that souls are thrust down into bodies according to the deserts of a life lived previously, so that the one which did not commit many sins would seem to deserve an earlier release. (This, in order not to contradict the apostle's statement that those not yet born have done nothing either good or bad.24) That being so, neither those who affirm that the soul is transmitted from parents, nor the ones who would have new souls being given singly, one by one, to every single individual, are able to show in support of their view why some people should be hurried on to death, others endlessly delayed. So then the cause of this is indeed a hidden secret, and in my judgment fails either to support or undermine the case of either party.
16, 28. First let us take those who on this matter of infant mortality were being pressed to explain why the sacrament of baptism should be necessary for everyone, though souls have not been derived (in their opinion) from that one by whose disobedience many have been constituted sinners (Rom 5:19). They answer that all have indeed been constituted sinners as regards the flesh, but as regards the soul only those who have lived bad lives in the time they could have been living good ones; that the reason all souls, however, including those of infants, need to have the sacrament of baptism is that it is a bad thing to depart this life without it even at that age, because the contagion of sin, which is picked up from "the flesh of sin" and overwhelms the soul when it is inserted into this body, will stand in its way after death unless it is purged while still in the flesh by the sacrament of the Mediator. So God, they continue, has to ensure that this assistance is accorded to the soul which he has foreknown would have lived here lovingly and loyally, had it come to years suited to faith, but which for some
24. See Rom 9:11.