Eccl 3:21

“"Who perceives that the spirit of man is the one that ascends on high while the spirit of the beast is the one that descends down into the earth?" But this seems to be blasphemy: for who knows if the spirit of the sons of man ascends upwards, or if the spirit of beasts goes downwards into the earth? He does not contend that there is no difference between animals and men in reference to the dignity of the soul, but in adding "who?" he wants to show the difficulty of the matter. For the pronoun "who" is used in the Holy Scriptures not on account of impossibility, but a difficulty. So here it is said in that passage, "who will describe that man's generation?" [Is. 53, 8.], and in the psalm: "Lord, who ascends in your tabernacle, and onto your sacred mountain?" [Ps. 14, 1.], and other examples that follow this pattern. And in Jeremiah it can be said differently in Hebrew: "And he is a man, and who knows him?" [Ier. 17, 9.]. This then, is the only difference between beast and men, that the spirit of man ascends to the heaven, and the spirit of the beast descends into the earth and is dispersed with the flesh; but let any man, who is of the Church and learned in the religious disciplines, be the real champion of the matter, which is rather doubtful. Then he adds just how much it refers to a spiritual understanding: "since the Lord will keep both men and beasts safe" [Ps. 35, 17.], and in another place he says, "beasts, I am among you" [Ps. 72, 23.], and all the prophets say that both men and beasts will be saved in Jerusalem, and that the promised land will be filled with sheep and cattle. Who knows whether the saintly man, who is worthy of the name of man, will ascend to heaven, and whether the sinner, who is called beast, will go down into the earth? For it is possible in light of the uncertain and dangerous condition of his life, that the righteous man falls and the sinner rises, and it sometimes happens that man, having more reason and learned in the Scriptures, does not look about himself, and although worthy of his knowledge lives out his life and is led down to the nether world; and the simpler and unlearned man, who is said to be compared to the beasts of men, lives better and is crowned in martyrdom, and he is then to live in paradise.”

“But only in these things is the likeness apparent, but the difference in the soul does not appear. Who knows whether the spirit of the children of Adam ascends upward? to heaven, namely to recompense, or downward through corruption: just as conversely, whether the spirit of beasts descends downward? through corruption, or even upward, as also that of man, to the retribution of judgment. Few have known this: many have erred and held that the spirits of man and beast are uniform. The faithful have known this, in whose person it is said below in the twelfth chapter: "Let the body return to its earth, whence it was, and let the spirit return to God, who gave it." But the carnal do not know this, in whose person it is said below in the ninth chapter: "The dead know nothing more, nor have they any further reward." II. There is a doubt concerning what he says: Who knows whether the spirit of the sons of Adam ascends upward? That it does, however, seems apparent: 1. First, through the disposition of the body, whose arrangement and organization is ordered according to a fittingness toward what is above. If therefore "he gave man an uplifted face and bade him gaze upon the heavens," and he looks upward: therefore the spirit is borne upward. 2. Likewise, all naturally desire happiness: but it is certain that no one can be happy in miseries, especially one to whom death comes unwillingly: therefore, if he cannot have happiness in this life, he is born to have it after this life as a separated spirit: therefore, etc. 3. Furthermore, our intellect is unmixed, whence it understands all things; therefore it does not depend on the body with respect to its act, therefore much less with respect to its being: therefore, when the body descends, it is possible for the spirit to ascend. 4. Likewise, by the reasoning of Ecclesiastes himself: because if some have good things and some have evil things, and we see that in the present evil things befall the good and good things befall the wicked: if therefore it is necessary to posit one ruler, it is necessary to posit another time and recompense, in which God judges the impious and the just. Since therefore our faith declares this, Ecclesiastes seems to have been a heretic who doubted this. That it goes downward, however, seems apparent: 1. Through Scripture: because in Wisdom 9 it is said: The body which is corrupted weighs down the soul; therefore, if the soul is corrupted bodily, it is corrupted entirely. 2. Likewise, what suffers with the suffering dies with the dying: but the soul suffers with the body: therefore, etc. 3. Likewise, no substance is idle; therefore what takes away from something all operation takes away from it being and duration: but the soul loses all operation when the body is injured, which is evident because it loses the intellect, regarding which this seems less likely, as in the case of the mad: therefore, when the body is corrupted, it loses its substance. I respond: it must be said that good souls ascend upward to reward, and that the souls of beasts descend downward into corruption — this our faith both declares and presupposes; and with this, reason and philosophy agree. Nevertheless, that reasoning and philosophy is both obscure and has many grounds for doubt; therefore almost no one, or very few, were able to attain true certitude concerning the immortality of the soul and its beatitude, unless faith had come to their aid. Whence even Plato, who held the soul to be immortal, nevertheless erred concerning beatitude, since he held that souls pass through the bodies of brute animals. — Ecclesiastes therefore neither denies nor doubts this, but says that this is difficult to demonstrate; and this is indeed true for the unbeliever. 2. 3. To what is objected concerning operation and co-suffering, it must be said that for something to be united to another, this occurs in two ways: either as a mover only, and then it can be separated with no change made in it; or as a mover and a perfection, and this again in two ways: either it does not have its own proper operation, as the soul of a brute animal, or it has its own proper operation, as the human soul. Since therefore the human soul is united to the body as perfection and mover, it suffers together with the suffering body; therefore it is also impeded when the body is impeded. But since it is joined separably, it is not necessary that it itself be corrupted: when every harmony is dissolved, the soul departs.”