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I must now, I see, enter the lists of amicable controversy with
those tender-hearted Christians who decline to believe that any, or
that all of those whom the infallibly just Judge may pronounce worthy
of the punishment of hell, shall suffer eternally, and who suppose
that they shall be delivered after a fixed term of punishment, longer
or shorter according to the amount of each man's sin. In respect of
this matter, Origen was even more indulgent; for he believed that
even the devil himself and his angels, after suffering those more
severe and prolonged pains which their sins deserved, should be
delivered from their torments, and associated with the holy angels.
But the Church, not without reason, condemned him for this and other
errors, especially for his theory of the ceaseless alternation of
happiness and misery, and the interminable transitions from the one
state to the other at fixed periods of ages; for in this theory he lost
even the credit of being merciful, by allotting to the saints real
miseries for the expiation of their sins, and false happiness, which
brought them no true and secure joy, that is, no fearless assurance of
eternal blessedness. Very different, however, is the error we speak
of, which is dictated by the tenderness of these Christians who
suppose that the sufferings of those who are condemned in the judgment
will be temporary, while the blessedness of all who are sooner or later
set free will be eternal. Which opinion, if it is good and true
because it is merciful, will be so much the better and truer in
proportion as it becomes more merciful.
Let, then, this fountain of mercy be extended, and flow forth even
to the lost angels, and let them also be set free, at least after as
many and long ages as seem fit! Why does this stream of mercy flow to
all the human race, and dry up as soon as it reaches the angelic? And
yet they dare not extend their pity further, and propose the
deliverance of the devil himself. Or if any one is bold enough to do
so, he does indeed put to shame their charity, but is himself
convicted of error that is more unsightly, and a wresting of God's
truth that is more perverse, m proportion as his clemency of sentiment
seems to be greater.
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