HELL
208
HELL
by a special revelation" (De Civ. Dei, XX, xvi, in P.
L., XLI, 682). Elsewhere he expresses the opinion
that hell is under the earth (Retract., II, xxiv, n. 2, in
P. L., XXXII, 640). St. Gregory the Great wrote:
" I do not dare to decide this question. Some thought
hell is somewhere on earth; others beliei'e it is under
the earth" (Dial., IV, xlii. in P. L., LXXVII, 400; cf.
Patuzzi, "De sede inferni", 1763; Gretser, "De sul>
terraneis animarum receptaculis", 1595).
II. Existence of Hell. — There is a hell, i. e. all those who die in personal mortal sin, as enemies of God, and unworthy of eternal life, will be severely punished by God after death. On the nature of mor- tal sin, see Sin; on the immediate beginning of pun- ishment after death, see Judgment, P.\rticul,\r. As to the fate of those who die free from personal mortal sin, but in original sin, see Limbo {limbus -parvulorum) . — The existence of hell is, of course, denied by all tho.se who deny the existence of God or the immortality of the soul. Thus among the Jews the Sadducees, among the Gnostics the Seleucians, and in our own time Materialists, Pantheists, etc., deny the existence of hell. But apart from these, if we abstract from the eternity of the pains of hell, the doctrine has never met an}' opposition worthy of mention.
The existence of hell is proved first of all from Holy Writ. Wherever Christ and the Apostles speak of hell they presuppose the knowledge of its existence (Matt., V, 29; viii, 12; x, 28; xiii, 42; xxv, 41, 46; II Thess., i, 8; Apoc, xxi, 8, etc.). A very complete development of the Scriptural argument, especially in regard to the Old Testament, may be found in Atz- berger's " Die christliche Eschatologie in den Stadien ihrer Offenbarung im Alten und Neuen Testament", Freiburg, 1890. Also the Fathers, from the very earliest times, are unanimous in teaching that the wicked will be punished after death. And in proof of their doctrine they appeal both to Scripture and to reason (cf. Ignatius, "Ad Eph.", v, 16; " Martyrium s. Polycarpi", ii, n. 3; xi, n. 2; Justin, "Apol.", II, n. 8, in P. G., VI, 458; Athenagoras, "De resurr. mort.", c. xix, in P. G., VI, 1011; Irensus, " .\dv. ha;r.", V, xxvii, n. 2, in P. G., VII, 1196: Tertullian, " .\dv. Marc", I, c. xxvi, in P. L., IV, 277). For cita- tions from this patristic teaching see Atzberger, "Gesch. der christl. Eschatologie innerhalb der vorni- canischen Zeit" (Freiburg, 1896); Petavius, "De An- gelis", III, iv sqq.
The Church professes her faith in the Athanasian Creed: "They that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into ever- lasting fire" (Denzinger, "Enchiridion", 10th ed., 1908, n. 40). The Church has repeatedly defined this truth, e. g. in the profession of faith ma<le in the Sec- ond Council of Lyons (Denz., n. 464) and in the Decree of Union in the Council of Florence (Denz., n. 69.3): "the souls of those who depart in mortal sin, or only in original sin, go down immediately into hell, to be visited, however, with unequal punishments" (pwni's disparibus).
If we abstract from the eternity of its punishment, the existence of hell can be demonstrated even by the light of mere reason. In His sanctity and justice as well as in His wisdom, Ciod must avenge the violation of the moral order in such wise as to preserve, at least in general, some proportion between the gravity of sin and the severitj' of punishment. But it is evident from experience that God does not always do this on earth; therefore He will inflict punishment after death. Moreover, if all men were fully conN-inced that the sinner need fear no kind of pimishment after death, moral and social onicr would lie seriously men- aced. This, however. Divine wisdom cannot permit. Again, if there were no retribution beyond that which takes place before our eyes here on earth, we should have to consider God extremely indifferent to good and evil, and we could in no way account for His
justice and holiness.— Nor can it be .said: the wicked
will be punished, but not by any positive infliction;
for either death will be the end of their existence, or,
forfeiting the rich reward of the good, they will enjoy
some lesser degree of happiness. These are arbitrary
and vain subterfuges, unsupported bj- any sound rea-
son; positive punishment is the natural recompense of
evil. Besides, due proportion between demerit and
punishment would be rendered impossible by an indis-
criminate annihilation of ah the wncked. And finally,
if men knew that their sins would not be followed by
sufferings, the mere threat of annihilation at the mo-
ment of death, and still less the prospect of a some-
what lower degree of beatitude, would not suffice to
deter them from sin.
Furthermore, reason easily understands that in the next life the just will be made happy as a reward of their virtue (see Heaven). But the punishment of evil is the natural counterpart of the reward of virtue. Hence, there will also be punishment for sin in the next life. Accordingly, we find among all nations the belief that evil-doers will be puni.shed after death. This universal conviction of mankind is an additional proof for the existence of hell. For it is impossible that, in reg:ird to the fundamental questions of their being and their destiny, all men shoukl fall into the same error; else the power of human reason would be essentially deficient, and the order of this world would be unduly WTapt in mystery; this, however, is repug- nant both to nature and to the wisdom of the Creator. On the belief of all nations in the existence of hell cf. Ltiken, "Die Traditionen des Menschengeschlechts " (2nd ed., Munster, 1869); Knabenbauer, "Das Zeug- nis des Menschengeschlechts fur die Unsterblichkeit der Seele" (1878). The few men who, despite the morally universal conviction of the human race, deny the ex- istence of hell, are mostly atheists and Epicureans. But if the view of such men in the fundamental ques- tion of our being could be the true one, apostasy would be the way to light, truth, and wisdom.
III. Eternity of Hell. — Many admit the exist- ence of hell, but deny the eternity of its punishment. Conditionalists hold only a luT^othetical immortality of the soul, and assert that after undergoing a certain amount of punishment, the souls of the wicked will be annihilated. Among the Gnostics the Valentinians held this doctrine, and later on also .\rnobius, the Socinians, many Protestants both in the past and in our own times, especially of late (Edw. White, " Life in Christ", New York, 1877). The Universalists teach that in the end all the damned, at lea.st all human .souls, will attain beatitude (dTroraTtio-ratris twi" TravTuiv, reslilidio omnium, according to Origen). This was a tenet of the Origenists and the Misericordes o{ whom St. .\ugustine speaks (De Civ. Dei, XXI, xviii, n. 1, in P. L., XLI, 7.32). There were individual ad- herents of this opinion in every century, e. g. Scotus Eriugena; in particular, many rationalistic Protest- ants of the last centuries defended this belief, e. g. in England, Farrar, "Eternal Hope" (five sermons preached in Westminster Abbey, London and New York, 1878), Among Catholics, Hirscher and Schell have recently expressed the opinion that those who do not die in the state of grace can still be converted alter death if they are not too wicked and impenitent.
Holy Writ is quite explicit in teaching the eternity of the pains of hell. The torments of the damned shall last forever and ever (Apoc, xiv, 11; xix, 3; xx, 10). They are everlasting just as are the joys of heaven (Matt., xxv, 46). Of Judas Christ says: " it were bet- ter for him, if that man had not been born " (Matt., xxvi, 24). But this would not be true if Judas were ever to be released from hell anfl admitted to eternal happiness. Again, God says of the damned: "Their worm shall not die, and" their fire shall not be quenched" (Is., IxN-i, 24: Mark, ix, 43, 45, 47). The fire of hell is repeatedly called eternal and unquench-
