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BESIDES the pain of loss hell inflicts also a pain of
sense. We shall speak here of the existence of this
pain, of what it is according to Scripture, of the
nature of the fire in hell, and of its mode of action.
[275]
The Testimony of Scripture
The pain of loss is clearly affirmed in the Gospel:
"Rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in
hell." [276] The existence of this pain follows, as St.
Thomas [277] says, from the truth that mortal sin not
only turns man away from God, but turns him also to a
created good preferred to God. Mortal sin, therefore,
deserves a double suffering, first, the privation of
God, secondly, the affliction which comes from
creatures. The body, too, which has taken part in sin
and has found in sin a forbidden joy, must share the
suffering of the soul.
In what does the pain of sense consist? Scripture [278]
tells us by describing hell as a dark prison, as a
place of tears and gnashing of teeth. Further, it
speaks of fire and sulphur. [279]
In these descriptions two connected ideas always recur;
that of imprisonment, and the pain of fire. Theologians
insist as much on the one as on the other, because each
explains the other. We read: [280] "The king said to
the waiters: Bind his hands and feet and cast him into
the exterior darkness. There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.... The hell of unquenchable fire."
[281]
The Fire of Hell: Real or Metaphorical?
The common doctrine is that the fire of hell is a real
fire. This view is based on the accepted position in
the interpreting of Scripture, that is, we are to admit
metaphorical language only when comparison with other
passages excludes the literal sense, or when literal
sense involves an impossibility. [282] Neither of these
two conditions is here realized. In this sentence,
"Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire
which was prepared for the devil and his angels," [283]
the entire context demands a realistic interpretation.
As the good go to eternal life, so you go to the fire
prepared for the demon and his angels. This fire
punishes, [284] not only souls, but also bodies. [285]
The apostles [286] too speak with the same realism. St.
Peter [287] takes as type of punishment in hell that
fire which fell from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. The
metaphorical interpretation, wherein the fire is a
figure of chagrin or remorse, is contrary to the
obvious sense of Scripture and tradition.
The Fathers generally, with the exception of Origen and
his disciples, speak of a real fire, which they compare
to terrestrial fire, or even to corporeal fire. Thus
St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, St. Gregory
the Great. [288] A. Michel, [289] after a long
examination of these texts, concludes: "When the
Fathers simply affirm traditional belief, they speak
without hesitation of a hell of fire. But when they
discuss the difficult question of this fire's mode of
action, we can notice some hesitation in their
thought."
This fire, says St. Thomas, [290] is a corporeal fire,
of the same nature as fire on earth, differing from it
only accidentally, since it has no need of terrestrial
fuel. It is dark, without flame, lasts forever, burns
bodies without destroying them. [291]
Its Mode of Action
How can corporeal fire cause pain in a soul separated
from its body, or in pure spirits like the demons?
Theologians answer in general: "It can do this as an
instrument of divine justice, just as the sacraments,
for example, the water of baptism, produce in the soul
that spiritual effect which is grace. Those who have
scorned the sacraments, instruments of God's mercy,
suffer the instruments of divine justice.
Theologians here divide into two camps, as they do for
the sacraments, some maintaining a physical causality,
others only a moral causality. A moral cause, like
prayer, which we address to someone to persuade him to
act, does not produce directly the effect desired, it
only inclines the agent capable of producing the act to
realize it. If it be thus with the fire of hell, it
would not produce effectively that which is attributed
to it. The effect would be simply and solely produced
by God.
Thomists, on the other hand, and with them many other
theologians, maintain here, as in the case of the
sacraments, a physical, instrumental causality,
exercised by the fire of hell on the souls of the
condemned. It is difficult indeed to explain its mode
of action. St. Thomas [292] and his best commentators
hold that the fire of hell receives from God power to
afflict the condemned spirits. The fire ties and binds
them, hinders their activity, somewhat like paralysis
or intoxication. This subjection to a corporeal element
is a great humiliation for immaterial beings. This
explanation is in harmony with the texts of Scripture
[293] which describe hell as a prison where the damned
are retained against their will.
But how can this fire, after the general resurrection,
burn the bodies of the damned without consuming them?
That it does so is affirmed by tradition and Scripture.
[294] St. Thomas [295] holds that the bodies of the
damned, though they are incorruptible and unalterable,
still suffer in some special fashion, as, for example,
the sense of hearing suffers from hearing a high,
strident voice, or as the taste suffers from a bitter
flavor. [296]
Difficulty in explaining how this fire acts, is not a
reason for denying the reality of that action. Even in
the natural order it is difficult to explain how
exterior objects produce in our senses an impression, a
representation in the psychological order, which
surpasses brute matter. Hence it is not surprising that
preternatural effects should be still more difficult to
explain.
The pain of sense, as all tradition affirms, is not the
principal pain. That which is essential in the state of
damnation is the privation of God Himself, and the
immense void which this privation causes in the soul, a
void which manifests by contrast the plenitude of life
everlasting, of which the present meritorious life is
the prelude. [297]
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