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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput IX: De gehenna et aeternarum qualitate poenarum.

Quod igitur de sempiterno supplicio damnatorum per suum prophetam deus dixit, fiet, omnino fiet: uermis eorum non morietur et ignis eorum non exstinguetur. ad hoc enim uehementius commendandum etiam dominus Iesus, cum membra quae hominem scandalizant pro his hominibus poneret, quos ut sua membra dextra quis diligit, eaque praeciperet amputari: bonum est tibi, inquit, debilem introire in uitam quam duas manus habentem ire in gehennam, in ignem inexstinguibilem, ubi uermis eorum non morietur et ignis non exstinguetur. similiter de pede: bonum est tibi, inquit, claudum introire in uitam aeternam quam duos pedes habentem mitti in gehennam ignis inexstinguibilis, ubi uermis eorum non moritur et ignis non exstinguitur. non aliter ait et de oculo: bonum est tibi luscum introire in regnum dei quam duos oculos habentem mitti in gehennam ignis, ubi uermis eorum non moritur et ignis non exstinguitur. non eum piguit uno loco eadem uerba ter dicere. quem non terreat ista repetitio et illius poenae commonitio tam uehemens ore diuino? utrumque autem horum, ignem scilicet atque uermem, qui uolunt ad animi poenas, non ad corporis pertinere, dicunt etiam uri dolore animi sero atque infructuose paenitentes eos, qui fuerint a regno dei separati, et ideo ignem pro isto dolore urente non incongrue poni potuisse contendunt; unde illud apostoli est: quis scandalizatur, et non ego uror? eundem etiam uermem putant intellegendum esse. nam scriptum est, inquiunt: sicut tinea uestimentum et uermis lignum, sic maeror excruciat cor uiri. qui uero poenas et animi et corporis in illo supplicio futuras esse non dubitant, igne uri corpus, animum autem rodi quodammodo uerme maeroris adfirmant. quod etsi credibilius dicitur, quia utique absurdum est ibi dolorem aut corporis aut animi defuturum, ego tamen facilius est ut ad corpus dicam utrumque pertinere quam neutrum, et ideo tacitum in illis diuinae scripturae uerbis animi dolorem, quoniam consequens esse intellegitur, etiamsi non dicatur, ut corpore sic dolente animus quoque sterili paenitentia crucietur. legitur quippe et in ueteribus scripturis: uindicta carnis inpii, ignis et uermis. potuit breuius dici: uindicta inpii. cur ergo dictum est: carnis inpii, nisi quia utrumque, id est et ignis et uermis, poena erit carnis? aut si uindictam carnis propterea dicere uoluit, quia hoc in homine uindicabitur, quod secundum carnem uixerit - propter hoc enim ueniet in mortem secundam, quam significauit apostolus dicens: si enim secundum carnem uixeritis, moriemini - , eligat quisque quod placet, aut ignem tribuere corpori, animo uermem, hoc proprie, illud tropice, aut utrumque proprie corpori. iam enim satis superius disputaui posse animalia etiam in ignibus uiuere, in ustione sine consumptione, in dolore sine morte per miraculum omnipotentissimi creatoris; cui hoc possibile esse qui negat, a quo sit quidquid in naturis omnibus miratur ignorat. ipse est enim deus, qui omnia in hoc mundo magna et parua miracula, quae commemorauimus, et inconparabiliter plura, quae non commemorauimus, fecit eademque ipso mundo uno atque omnium maximo miraculo inclusit. eligat ergo unum e duobus quisque quod placet, utrum et uermem ad corpus proprie an ad animum translato a corporalibus ad incorporalia uocabulo existimet pertinere. quid autem horum uerum sit, res ipsa expeditius indicabit, quando erit scientia tanta sanctorum, ut eis cognoscendarum illarum poenarum necessaria non sit experientia, sed ea, quae tunc erit plena atque perfecta, ad hoc quoque sciendum sapientia sola sufficiat - nunc enim ex parte scimus, donec ueniat quod perfectum est - , dum tamen nullo modo illa corpora talia futura esse credamus, ut nullis ab igne adficiantur doloribus.

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The City of God

Chapter 9.--Of Hell, and the Nature of Eternal Punishments.

So then what God by His prophet has said of the everlasting punishment of the damned shall come to pass--shall without fail come to pass,--"their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." ¹ In order to impress this upon us most forcibly, the Lord Jesus Himself, when ordering us to cut off our members, meaning thereby those persons whom a man loves as the most useful members of his body, says, "It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched." Similarly of the foot: "It is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." So, too, of the eye: "It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." ² He did not shrink from using the same words three times over in one passage. And who is not terrified by this repetition, and by the threat of that punishment uttered so vehemently by the lips of the Lord Himself?

Now they who would refer both the fire and the worm to the spirit, and not to the body, affirm that the wicked, who are separated from the kindgdom of God, shall be burned, as it were, by the anguish of a spirit repenting too late and fruitlessly; and they contend that fire is therefore not inappropriately used to express this burning torment, as when the apostle exclaims "Who is offended, and I burn not?" ³ The worm, too, they think, is to be similarly understood. For it is written they say, "As the moth consumes the garment, and the worm the wood, so does grief consume the heart of a man." ⁴ But they who make no doubt that in that future punishment both body and soul shall suffer, affirm that the body shall be burned with fire, while the soul shall be, as it were, gnawed by a worm of anguish. Though this view is more reasonable,--for it is absurd to suppose that either body or soul will escape pain in the future punishment,--yet, for my own part, I find it easier to understand both as referring to the body than to suppose that neither does; and I think that Scripture is silent regarding the spiritual pain of the damned, because, though not expressed, it is necessarily understood that in a body thus tormented the soul also is tortured with a fruitless repentance. For we read in the ancient Scriptures, "The vengeance of the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms." ⁵ It might have been more briefly said, "The vengeance of the ungodly." Why, then, was it said, "The flesh of the ungodly," unless because both the fire and the worm are to be the punishment of the flesh? Or if the object of the writer in saying, "The vengeance of the flesh," was to indicate that this shall be the punishment of those who live after the flesh (for this leads to the second death, as the apostle intimated when he said, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die" ⁶ , let each one make his own choice, either assigning the fire to the body and the worm to the soul,--the one figuratively, the other really,--or assigning both really to the body. For I have already sufficiently made out that animals can live in the fire, in burning without being consumed, in pain without dying, by a miracle of the most omnipotent Creator, to whom no one can deny that this is possible, if he be not ignorant by whom has been made all that is wonderful in all nature. For it is God Himself who has wrought all these miracles, great and small, in this world which I have mentioned, and incomparably more which I have omitted, and who has enclosed these marvels in this world, itself the greatest miracle of all. Let each man, then, choose which he will, whether he thinks that the worm is real and pertains to the body, or that spiritual things are meant by bodily representations, and that it belongs to the soul. But which of these is true will be more readily discovered by the facts themselves, when there shall be in the saints such knowledge as shall not require that their own experience teach them the nature of these punishments, but as shall, by its own fullness and perfection, suffice to instruct them in this matter. For "now we know in part, until that which is perfect is come;" ⁷ only, this we believe about those future bodies, that they shall be such as shall certainly be pained by the fire.