The Pre-Reformation
Period
1. The Early Church
The masses of Christians in the early Church certainly believed in the doctrine of eternal punishment. Gibbon considered this to be one of the five most important reasons why the Gospel spread in such amazing fashion.
The testimony of the martyrs of the first centuries of the Church contained many references to the doctrine. Pusey's What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment contains a whole series of these references. One example is the answer of Sylvanus the son of Felicitas, to his judge when he was on trial for his life, "If we fear a passing destruction, we shall incur eternal punishment. Knowing then, what rewards are prepared for the righteous, and what punishments appointed for sinners, we fearlessly despise human law, to keep the Divine commands. For they who adore daemons will be with them in destruction and in everlasting burnings."1
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One of the most outstanding martyrs was Polycarp. He said, "You threaten me with fire that burns for one hour and then cools, not knowing the judgment to come, nor the perpetual torment of eternal fire to the ungodly." These words are typical of the martyrs. It is obvious that their assured faith in the reality of eternal punishment gave them the courage to face martyrdom, as being by far the lesser of two evils.
The general consensus of opinion of the Church Fathers was also in favor of the doctrine of eternal punishment. Clement of Rome (c.40-97) said nothing about hell itself in those of his writings which have been preserved, but he did state, "After we leave this world we are no longer able to confess sin, and to turn from it."
In the second century, the phrase "eternal fire" is found in the writings of many of the Church Fathers, among them Ignatius (d. 117). Commenting on a verse from Ephesians, he says, "One so defiled will go into unquenchable fire, and in like manner he who heareth him." The Shepherd of Hermas (c. 115) said, "Those which fell into the fire and were burned, are those who have departed for ever from the living God; nor does the thought of repentance ever come into their hearts, on account of their devotion to their lusts and to the crimes which they committed." The Epistle of Barnabas (c. 120) includes this statement, "The way of the black one is crooked and full of curses. It is the way of eternal death with punishment." It is not certain who wrote An Ancient Homily, but it is generally assigned to this same period. One passage from it is as follows, "For if we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest: but if otherwise, then nothing shall deliver us from eternal punishment, if we should disobey His commandments."
Justin Martyr (c. 110-165) in his Apology has a clear and lengthy statement on the subject: "Plato said to the same effect: that Rhudamanthus and Minos would punish the wicked men when they came to them; we say that the
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same thing will take place; but that the Judge will be Christ, and that their souls will undergo an eternal punishment; and not as he said, a period of a thousand years. We believe I would rather say we are fully convinced that each will suffer punishment by eternal fire, according to the demerit of his actions; and that an account will be required of everyone, in proportion to the powers which he received from God, as Christ has declared in these words, 'For unto whomsoever God has given much, of him shall the more be required.'
"We Christians (in contrast to the vices attributed by the heathen to their gods) have been taught that they only will attain to immortality, who lead holy and virtuous lives, like God; and we believe, that all who live wickedly, and do not repent, will be punished in eternal fire."
Iranaeus (135-200) mentions eternal fire many times. For example he says, "That eternal fire is prepared for those who should transgress, both the Lord openly affirmed, and the other Scriptures prove." He also said, "Good things are eternal, and without end in God, and therefore the loss of them is also eternal and never ending" and "Those who fly from the light of God . . . are themselves the cause of their inhabiting eternal darkness, destitute of all good things." Notice here the idea that the punishment includes what the sinner misses as well as a positive penalty. We also have here the idea that the punishment is the natural consequence which the sinner brings upon himself. Farrar claimed that Iranaeus was inconsistent in that he taught both eternal punishment and universal restoration, but Pusey explains these alleged universalistic passages very satisfactorily.2
Theophilus, the Sixth Bishop of Antioch (c. 168), said, "Give reverential attention to the prophetic Scriptures, and they will make your way plainer for escaping the eternal punishments, and obtaining the eternal prizes of God."
At the beginning of the third century, one of the outstanding
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Church Fathers was Tertullian, (c. 160-230). He taught the doctrine of eternal punishment; the type of language which he used however depended on whom he was addressing. As Pusey says, "Tertullian, when not bent on producing an effect on the heathen, writes calmly of the fear of eternal punishment as keeping Christians from evil."3 Tertullian speaks of "the greatness of the punishment which continueth, not for a long time, but forever." He was the first of the Church Fathers to emphasize the idea which reappears from time to time in the history of the subject that hell would be a joyful spectacle to those who are saved. He says in his De Spectaculis "How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult when I behold so many proud monarchs, and fancied gods, groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness; so many magistrates, who persecuted the name of the Lord, liquefying in fiercer fires than they ever kindled against the Christians."
Cyprian (c. 200-258) also was rather graphic in his descriptions of eternal torments. He said, "Let him fear to die, on whom, at his going away from life an eternal flame will lay pains that never cease." In his Second Epistle, he said, "Gains which sever men from the feast of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and bring them down, ill and to their ill, fattened in this world, to the punishment of hunger and thirst eternal."
The famous Alexandrian school of theologians, however, denied the doctrine of eternal punishment. As Shedd says, "The principle deviation from the catholic doctrine of endless retribution was in the Alexandrian school, founded by Clement and Origen. The position taken by them was that 'the punishments of the condemned are not eternal but only remedial; the devil himself being capable of amelioration.' "4 Shedd goes on to say, "Origen's Restorationism grew naturally
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out of his view of human liberty. He held that the liberty of indifference and the power of contrary choice, instead of simple self-determination, are the substance of freedom. These belong inalienably and forever to the nature of the finite will. They cannot be destroyed, even by apostasy and sin. Consequently there is forever a possibility of a self-conversion of the will in either direction. Free will may fall into sin at any time; and free will may turn to God any time. This led to Origen's theory of an endless alternation of falls and recoveries, of hells and heavens; so that practically he taught nothing but hell. For, as Augustine (City of God, XXL. xvii) remarks in his refutation of Origen, 'heaven with the prospect of losing it is misery.' "5 We see then that Origen's view was the result of his anthropology. Origen himself recognized the dangerous moral consequences of universalism, and sometimes spoke of eternal condemnation and the impossibility of conversion in the world to come. He also said that in the matter of "the end or consummation" what is said "is said with great fear and caution, discussing and treating, rather than laying down anything as certain and defined." In his discussions of the subject he constantly began statements with the term "perhaps." Jerome said, "Origen himself, in an epistle which he wrote to Fabian, Bishop of Rome, expressed regret for having written such things, and threw the blame upon Ambrose, who made public what he had written privately." Origen called the doctrine of eternal damnation a "beneficial deception" by God. In other words, he himself believed in universalism, but he believed in teaching eternal damnation to the masses of men as a deterrent to sin. This in itself is an admission of the fact that the denial of eternal punishment undermines morals, and therefore places a serious question over against the claim that such denial could correspond to reality.
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The Eastern Church formally condemned the heresies of Origen in a synod at Alexandria convened by Theophilus, and one at Cyprus convened by Epiphanius. These teachings of Origen were also condemned by Anastasius, Bishop of Rome. After some Origenist monks had stirred up some trouble in Palestine, the Emperor Justinian (who liked to delve into theology) had the matter brought up to the Fifth General Council, where Origenism was condemned.
Among the words of Basil (c. 330-379) are these, "For they who have done evil shall arise to reproach and shame, seeing in themselves the foulness and the marks of their evil deeds. And perhaps more fearful than darkness and the eternal fire in that shame, which sinners will have as their companion in eternity, having ever before their eyes the traces of that sin in the flesh, as a dye which cannot be washed out, abiding forever in the memory of their souls.
"Let no one deceive thee with vain words; for sudden destruction will come upon thee, and the overthrow shall overtake thee, like a whirlwind. The dark angel will come, carry away by force, and dragging thy soul bound with sins, often turning back to the things here and mourning voicelessly, the organ of lamentation being now closed . . . . For there is no liberation from those things after death, nor any device or means of escaping those bitter poisons." We note in Basil an emphasis on the psychological result of sin rather than on the literal aspects of the punishment.
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 331-396) at times followed the teachings of Origen, but at other times made statements such as the following: "And this will be the complete effacement of wickedness, when all are called up to life by the resurrection; the just being removed to the portion above, those held fast by sins being delivered over to the fire of Gehenna." Commenting on this statement by Gregory, Pusey says, "The above clear and explicit preaching to his people, shows what was the faith of Saint Gregory. Whatever
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be the explanation of the mist of Origenism, which at times, floated over his own imaginative mind, or that of his saintly sister, Saint Macrina, to whom he owed so much, nothing but a want of conviction of the truth of the speculations could have made him preach the exact contrary."
Gregory Nazianzen (c. 329-389) said, "There is not to those who depart to Hades, confession or amendment. For God hath concluded here life and action, but there the sifting of what has been done. That sentence, after which is no appeal, no higher judge, no defence through subsequent works, no oil, from the wise virgins or from those who sell, for the failing lamps; no repentance of a rich man wasting in the flame and seeking amendment for his relations; no appointed time of transformations; but one last fearful judgment, even more just than formidable, yea rather the more formidable, because it is also just." Note here the Biblical basis for Gregory's statements.
It was during this period, the fourth century, that the article of the Apostle's Creed, "He descended into hell," received acceptance. This article is important in the study of our subject because the advocates of the "larger hope" claim that this article refers to the fact that Jesus preached to the dead, thus bringing salvation to some who had before this time been lost. This article was slow in being accepted into creedal statements. It was absent from the statements of the first four Ecumenical Councils, Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. The first formal creed in which it had a place was that of the Arian party at the council of Ariminum (359). Even after that, there were many creeds from which it was omitted. Furthermore, once it was admitted, it was interpreted in a great variety of ways. The article of the Creed in itself certainly does not give any detailed description of Christ's activities while in "hell."
Athanasius (293-373) is best known for his defense of the orthodox doctrine of the person of Christ in the controversy
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with the Arians. His writings contain several references to the doctrine of eternal punishment, but his position on the subject is not clear. He quoted passages on punishment from Matthew, but he also made the statement: "While the devil thought to bind one he is deprived of all. Cast out of Hades, and sitting by the gates he sees all the fettered beings, led forth by the courage of the Saviour." This would seem to imply a belief in universalism.
Hilary (d. 367), sometimes called "the Athanasius of the West", stated that the heathen will have material bodies suitable for living in flames. He said, "An eternity of the body is destined for the heathen too, so that there shall be in them eternal matter for the eternal fire, and in all being everlasting, everlasting punishment shall be put in force."
Ambrose (c. 340-379) was another of the Church Fathers who is best known for his part in the conflict with the Arians. He taught that the sufferings of the damned were not material. He said, "There is no gnashing of corporeal teeth, nor any perpetual fire of corporeal flames, nor is the worm corporeal the fire is that which the sadness over transgressions generates, because the sins pierce with compunction the mind sense of the irrational soul of the guilty, and eat out, as it were, the bowels of conscience; which sins are generated like worms out of each other, as it were from the body of the sinner . . . the gnashing of teeth also indicates the feeling of one indignant because each repents too late, is too late wroth with himself, groans over himself too late, that he offended with such obstinate wickedness."
Jerome, (340-420) said, "Therein shall the sinner be cursed, that, his body being uncorrupt he shall suffer eternal punishment." He also said, "The worm which will never die and the fire which never will be quenched is by very many (plerisque) understood of the conscience of sinners, which tortures them when under punishment, why through their own fault and sin, they missed the good of the elect." He
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then adds, "Yet not as to deny the eternal punishment of those who deny the Lord."
Jerome rejected the extreme emphasis on punishment which was advocated by the Pelagians, yet he said, "But if Origen says, that no rational creature will be lost, and ascribes repentance to the devil, what is that to us, who say that the devil and his hosts and all ungodly and transgressors perish for ever, and that Christians, if overtaken (by death) in sin, will be saved after punishment?" The latter part of the statement is, of course, a reference to a purgatorial experience, to which many of the other Church Fathers also made a great deal of reference. Jerome also said, "All God's enemies shall perish, not that they shall cease to exist but cease to be enemies." This is a rather ambiguous statement, but in the light of other passages from his works it cannot mean that he believed in universalism.
Jerome clearly held to the doctrine of eternal punishment, yet at the same time he had a tolerant view toward those who denied it. In commenting on Isaiah 24, "post multos dies visitabuntur" he says, "This seems to favour those friends of mine who grant the grace of repentance to the devil and to demons after many ages, that they too shall be visited after a time." He goes on to explain that the text mentioned doesn't necessarily mean this, but then he adds, "human frailty cannot know the judgment of God, nor venture to form an opinion of the greatness of His punishment."6
Augustine (354-430) stood uncompromisingly for the doctrine of eternal punishment. As with many other doctrines, his advocacy of this position tended to cause it to become the accepted doctrine of the church for the centuries that followed. In dealing with the subject he avoided the coarseness of the descriptions of some of the scholars who lived in his era. He took his position not only because it was
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Biblical but also because the fear of hell had had a salutary effect in his own experience. He says, "Thy right hand was continually ready to pluck me out of the mire, and to wash me thoroughly, and I knew it not; nor did anything call me back from a yet deeper gulf of carnal pleasures, but the fear of death and of thy judgment to come; which, amid all my changes, never departed my breast."7 We shall never know how many others have been kept from plunging more deeply into sin by the fear of hell. This is certainly not the highest motive for morality, but it has helped to restrain evil.
That the doctrine of eternal punishment was not the only position held with regard to what happens to the ungodly after death is shown by Augustine's statement concerning the very many in his day who "though not denying the Holy Scriptures, do not believe in endless torments." On the same subject he says, "For in vain certain, or rather very many, with human feelings compassionate the eternal punishment of the doomed, and their eternal torments without intermission, and so believe not that it will take place, not indeed in the way of opposing themselves to the divine Scriptures, but by softening, according to their own feelings, all the hard sayings, and by turning unto a more gentle meaning such things, as they think to be said rather to execute terror than as though true."
Augustine pointed out that aionios must have the same meaning when it refers to punishment as when it refers to reward. He considered separation from God to be the worst part of the punishment of the lost. He said that beyond the degrees of suffering involved in eternal punishment "Alienation from the life of God, which would be common to all, would be greater than any suffering whatever." He allows each individual the freedom to choose whether he believes in the more sensuous or the more spiritual forms of punishment, but he himself thought it best to believe that there will be a combination of the two.
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In his City of God, Augustine devotes the entire Twenty First Book with its 27 brief chapters to the subject of hell. He begins the first chapter of the book by writing: "We are now to proceed (by the help of God) in this book, with the declaration of the punishment due unto the devil and all his confederacy. And this I choose to do before I handle the glories of the blessed, because both these and the wicked are to undergo their sentences in body and soul, and it may seem more incredible for an earthly body to endure undissolved in eternal pains, than without all pain, in everlasting happiness. So that when I have shown the possibility of the first, it may be a great motive unto the confirmation of the latter."8 In brief chapters in this Book, he then goes on to discuss "Whether an earthly body may possibly be incorruptible by fire," and "Whether a fleshly body may possibly endure eternal pain." He then goes on to give what he considered some of Nature's testimonies that bodies may remain undiminished in fire.
In Chapter IX, entitled "Of hell, and the qualities of the eternal pains therein," he quotes several of Jesus' sayings on the subject, and then he says, "O whom would not this thunder from the mouth of God strike a chill terror into, sounding so often? Now, as for this worm and this fire, they that make them only mental pains do say that the fire implies the burning of the soul in grief and anguish, that now repents too late for being severed from the sight of God: after the manner that the apostle says: 'Who is offended and I burn not?' And this language may be meant also by the worm say they, as it is written 'As the moth is to the garment, and the worm to the wood, so does sorrow eat the heart of a man.' Now such as hold them both mental and real, say that the fire is a bodily plague to the body, and the worm a plague of conscience to the soul. This seems more likely."9
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He then goes on in brief chapters to discuss "Whether the fire of hell if it be corporeal, can take effect upon the incorporeal devils," and "Whether it be not justice that the time of the pains should be proportioned to the time of the sins and crimes."
Chapter XVII is entitled "Of some Christians that held that hell's pains should not be eternal." We quote this chapter in full because of its direct bearing upon our subject: "Now must I have a gentle disputation with certain tender hearts of our own religion, who think that God, who has justly doomed the condemned unto hell fire, will after a certain space, which His goodness shall think fit for the merit of each man's guilt, deliver them from that torment. And of this opinion was Origen, in far more pitiful manner, for he held that the devils themselves after a set time expired, should be loosed from their torments, and become bright angels in heaven, as they were before. But this, and other of his opinions, chiefly that rotation and circumvolution of misery and bliss which he held that all mankind should run in, gave the Church cause to pronounce his anathema: seeing he had lost this seeming pity, by assigning a true misery, after a while, and a false bliss, unto the saints in heaven, where they (if they were true) could never be sure of remaining. But far otherwise is their tenderness of heart, which hold that this freedom out of hell shall only be extended unto the souls of the damned after a certain appointed time for everyone so that all at length shall come to be saints in heaven. But if this opinion be good and true, because it is merciful, why then the farther it extends the better it is; so that it may as well include the freedom of the devils also, after a longer continuance of time. Why then ends it with mankind only, and excludes them? nay, but it dares go no farther. they dare not extend their pity unto the devil. But if any one does so, he goes beyond them, and yet sins in erring more deformedly, and more perversely
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against the express word of God, though he thinks to show the more pity herein."10
Augustine based his belief in eternal punishment on the Scriptures. For example he says, "Wherefore there is no reason either stronger or plainer to assure our belief that the devil and his angels shall never more return to the glory and righteousness of the saints, than because the Scriptures, that deceive no man, tell us directly and plainly, 'that God hath not spared them, but cast them down into hell, and delivered them unto chains of darkness, there to be kept unto the condemnation in the just judgment, then to be cast into eternal fire, and there to burn for evermore' . . . Shall the word of God, spoken alike both to men and devils, be proved true upon the devils, and not upon the men? So indeed would man's surmises be of more certainty than God's promises."11
Augustine obviously gave a great deal of thought to the subject, and his conclusions had a great influence upon the thinking of the Church.
Chrysostom (c. 345-407) had a great influence on the Church both because of his outstanding ability as a preacher, and because he did a great deal of writing. He seems to have been in favor of much in Origen's thinking, but in spite of that, to have believed in eternal punishment himself. Farrar makes the charge that "the doctrine of accommodation" which was prevalent amongst the Church Fathers was practiced by Chrysostom at this point. In other words, Farrar says that Chrysostom did not believe in the doctrine of eternal punishment, but taught it to accommodate himself to the convictions of his hearers. However as we turn to the clear language that Chrysostom used, we find this hard to believe. Besides, what other evidence do we have concerning what he believed than the record of what he said and wrote?
Commenting on a passage in Matthew, Chrysostom said,
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"And some even say that it (the saying 'But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.') was spoken rather hyperbolically. But I fear lest, when we have deceived ourselves with words here, we may in deeds there suffer that extreme punishment."12 Commenting on a passage in Romans, he says, "Where then are they who, with all this great exactness in view, yet will not allow that there is a hell?"13 In another sermon, he said, "All these things let us speak as in pity for the deceased, and as depreciating things present; in order that by fear and by pity we may soften the cruel word. And when we see men shrinking into themselves at these narrations, then, and not till then, let us introduce to their notice also the doctrine of hell, not as terrifying these, but in compassion for others. And let us say, But why speak of these things present? For far indeed will our concern be from ending with these: a yet more grievous punishment will confront all such persons; even a river of fire, and a poisonous worm, and darkness interminable, and undying tortures."14 Commenting on a verse in 1 Thessalonians he says, "For it is no small advantage to be persuaded concerning hell. For the recollection of such discourses, like bitter medicine, will be able to clear every vice, if it be constantly settled in our mind."15 In another passage he says, "For indeed my heart is troubled and throbs, and the more I see the account of hell confirmed, the more do I tremble and shrink through fear, but it is necessary to say these things, lest we fall into hell."16 He also said, "I could wish also myself , that there were no punishment . . . But it cannot be, that there is not punishment and hell. What can I do?"17 In yet another passage he calls the denial of hell "Satanic reasoning."18 He
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had hopes that the preaching of the doctrine might have a powerful influence, for he said, "For this cause did God threaten hell, that none may fall into hell, that all may obtain the Kingdom, for this cause, we too make mention continually of hell."19
Just a few of the most prominent of the Church Fathers have been quoted to illustrate the conceptions held in the early Church. Except for a few, notably Origen, the most influential of the Fathers held to the doctrine of eternal punishment, and in fact proclaimed it more or less vigorously.
2. The Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages a great deal of attention was focused on the doctrine of eternal punishment. There is also a noticeable increase in the crudeness of the description of hell. This is especially true of the many visions on the subject which are recorded as having been seen in this age. The most famous of such visions in the early part of the Middle Ages was that of the Venerable Bede (673-735) in which he described a man in torments, "the flames of fire gushed out from his ears and eyes and nostrils and at every pore." There were also, however, in this period saner discussions on the subject. For example, John Damascene (c. 700-754), considered by many the most authoritative theologian of the Eastern Church, says "After death there is no longer turning, no longer repentance, not that God wouldn't accept repentance, for He cannot deny Himself, nor doth He cast away His compassion; but the soul is no longer converted."20
John Scotus Erigena (c. 815-877) was both a controversial and an original thinker. Although his position is not entirely clear, he seems to have denied the endlessness of punishment and the material aspects of hell. In one passage he spoke of hell as the conscience, but in another place he spoke of
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hell fire. He spoke of evil being abolished as a kingdom, but not abolished in individuals. Of Erigena's position, J.M. Deutsche says, "Evil is nothing substantial, it had no place in primordial cause, it is only instability of will which is an accident attendant upon God-created natures. Since the changes outlined above produce a will fully sanctified and united with God, the will is in full accord with the divine will; there is then no cause of evil. The consequences of evil likewise vanish, since that which is only an accident cannot assume the form of substance; at the end of world-history evil in every form is to be annihilated. This is the necessary consequence of the system of Scotus, to which he gave extended discussion. According to his system, it was impossible that a nature, something created by God, could suffer eternally, and he attempted to show how a vice could attach to a pure nature without corrupting it, also how it might be punished, though in itself nothing, otherwise than in the nature possessed by it; his demonstration, however, is unsatisfactory. How the bad will can continue to exist while the nature is completely pure is not made clear, and this difficulty is the greater because Scotus regarded the will not as an accident but as an essential. Yet Scotus has (x. 38) a sentence which should be noticed. He says that practically all authors agree that as many men attain to the heavenly kingdom as there are angels who have fallen, and remarks that, if that is correct, then must the number of men who eventually are born equal that of angels, or else not all men attain to the purpose of their creation, which last is contrary to the reasons already given for the salvation of all men in Christ. In that case only demons and the devil are doomed to eternal condemnation."21 In this reference there is obviously a great deal of speculation, rather than thought based on Biblical revelation.
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One of the lesser theologians of this era, Theophylact (c. 1077) said, "The worm and the fire, which punish sinners, is the conscience of each, and the memory of the foul deeds committed in this life, which prey upon him like a worm, and scorch him like fire."
Peter Lombard (c. 1105-1160), famous for his Sentences, followed Tertullian in considering hell to be a beautiful sight to the redeemed. He said, "The elect shall go forth . . . to see the torments of the impious, and seeing this they will not be affected with grief, but will be satiated with joy."
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274) who set the pattern for all later Roman Catholic thought, agreed with Tertullian and Lombard when he said, "that the saints may enjoy their beatitude more thoroughly and give more abundant thanks to God, a perfect view of the punishment of the damned is granted to them." He considered that the torments included useless repining and mourning. In his system "guilt and punishment correspond to each other; and since the 'apostasy from the invariable good which is infinite' fulfilled by man, is unending, it merits everlasting punishment."22 He made an important contribution to Roman Catholic thought by developing the idea of a separate place for unbaptized children, the Limbus Infantum.
The most famous of the many visions of heaven and hell are those of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). He describes hell in his poem Inferno. According to the poem, in April of 1300, Dante finds himself wandering in a gloomy forest. Leaving the forest, he attempts to climb a hill, but is driven back by three ravenous beasts. He is met by Virgil who promises to conduct him through hell and purgatory. On the evening of Good Friday, April 8, they enter the gate of hell and pass through its successive circles. What Dante sees there is then described in great vividness. Hell is supposedly shaped like an inverted cone with its apex at the center of the earth. The
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upper circle is that of the Elysian Fields where the noble pagans dwell. Venial sins are punished in the next few circles; and deadly sins are punished in those circles nearest the center where there is a frozen lake in which Lucifer himself punishes traitors.
The following are a few illustrative passages from the Inferno:
First we see the description of the entrance to Hell:
"Through me the way is to the city of woe;
Through me the way unto eternal pain;;
Through me the way unto the lost below.
Justice commoved my high Creator, when
Made me Divine Omnipotence, combined
With Primal Love and Wisdom Sovereign.
Before me nothing was of any kind
Except Eterne, and I eterne abide:
Leave, ye that enter in, all hope behind!"23
One of his descriptions of the lost is as follows:
"But all those spirits, so forworn and stark,
Change color, and their teeth are chattering,
As soon as they the cruel accents mark.
God they blaspheme, and their own sires, and fling
Curses on race and place and time and taw
Both of their birth and their engendering."24
At sight of the noble pagans in hell Virgil speaks:
"Askest thou not," resumed the Master good,
"What spirits these may be thou dost behold?
Now ere thou go, I wish it understood,
Though these sinned not, their merit manifold
Doth not, for want of Baptism, signify
The portal of the faith which thou dost hold
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They worship God but through idolatry,
Seeing they were to Christian ages prior;
And among such as these myself am I."25
Another vivid description of the condition of the lost is found in Canto V:
"And now the notes of woe begin to smite
The hollow of mine ear; now am I come
Where I am pierced by wailings infinite.
I came into a place of all light dumb,
Which bellows like a sea where thunders roll
And counter winds contend for masterdom.
The infernal hurricane beyond control
Sweeps on and on with ravishment malign
Whirling and buffering each hapless soul.
When by the headlong tempest hurled supine,
Here are the shrieks, the moaning, the laments;
Here they blaspheme the puissance divine.26
It is difficult to know whether or not Dante considered hell to be literally as he described it or whether he was deliberately using metaphorical language, but it is easy to see how less poetic souls who read his words would picture hell.
Richard Rolle de Hampole (c. 1290-1349), an English mystic, stated that the torments of hell are unimaginable, but spent one thousand lines of his Stimulus Conscientiae trying to describe them.
The subject of hell was very popular in this period. Heinrich Suso (c. 1300-1366), the German ascetic, devoted a whole chapter to it in one of his books. The Speculum Humanae Salvationis, a poem of uncertain authorship, written at the beginning of the fourteenth century, had much to say about hell. It spoke of the body being deformed in proportion to the sin committed, of punishment for sin being unending because the sinner will never repent, and it also
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spoke of the worm of conscience. Some of the writings of this period were accompanied by the most grotesque pictures which no doubt made a deep impression on the illiterate masses. The Kalendrier des Bergiers gave a terrifying description of hell supposedly related by Lazarus.
Chapter 5 || Table of Contents
1. Note: The quotations from the martyrs and Church Fathers are all taken from Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment, unless other references are given.
2. Pusey, Op. Cit., p. 182.
3. Ibid., p. 182.
4. Shedd, Op. Cit., p. 669.
5. Ibid. p. 669.
6. Hieron, in Esai, xxiv.
7. Augustine, Confessions, vi. 16, p. 105 Oxf. Tr.
8. Augustine, The City of God, II Trans. by J.H. (London, Griffith Farran Okeken and Welsh, first published in 1610), p. 292.
9. Ibid., pp. 303, 304.
10. Ibid., pp. 310, 311.
11. Augustine, The City of God, Book XXI, Chapter XXIII.
12. Chrysostom, Hom. XVI on Matthew 5:22, p. 241, Oxf. Tr.
13. Ibid., Hom. XXXI on Rom. 16:16, p. 495.
14. Ibid., Hom. XI on I Cor. 4:5, p. 146.
15. Ibid., Hom. VIII on 1 Thess 4:18, p. 425.
16. Ibid., Hom. IX on 1 Cor. 3: 1-2, p. 115.
17. Ibid., Hom. VIII on 1 Thess. 4:18, pp. 424-425.
18. Ibid., Hom. VIII on 1 Thess. 4:18, p. 418.
19. Ibid., Hom. VI on Phil. 2: 5-8, p. 73.
20. John Damascene, Dialogue Against the Manicheans.
21. S.M. Deutsch, in The New Schaff Herzon Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, X, "Scotus Erigena, Johannes" (Grand Rapids, Baker Book-house, 1950), 306, 307.
22. R. Seeburg, in the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, XI, "Thomas Aquinas," 425.
23. Dante Alighieri, "Inferno" in H.W. Robbins and W.H. Coleman, Western World Literature (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1938), Translation by Melville Best Anderson, p. 339.
24. Ibid., p. 340.
25. Ibid., pp. 340, 341.
26. Ibid., p. 342.