De Moor IX:26: The Punishment of the Angelic Fall, Part 2

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2.  At the same time, the ultimate Consummation of the Diabolical Punishment is coming on the last Day; it is altogether grievous,

              α.  Intensively, which is represented to us by τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον, τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ, the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41; and by τὴν λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ θείου, the lake of fire and brimstone, where βασανισθήσονται ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever, Revelation 20:10, 14.  Whether by the emblems of Fire and Brimstone the most exquisite torments of Hell be only emblematically described, a.  on account of the outer Darkness simultaneously ascribed to the infernal place:  b.  on account of the joys of the blessed Life, on the other hand, accustomed to be similarly represented under the symbols of the most pleasant and agreeable things:  c.  on account of the spiritual nature of Devils, which do not appear to be able to be immediately afflicted by bodily Fire.  Or even it is here to be understood as Fire properly so called, and it comes to be said, that the Devil and his Angels, although they are of a spiritual nature, are to be afflicted and tormented by bodily Fire, on account of the close tie and bond established by God between Fire and the nature of Angels, which the Most Illustrious ODÉ prefers, Commentario de Angelis, section III, chapter I, § 23, page 339, and likewise section IV, chapter VI, § 18, page 673; and he illustrates the possibility of this thing by the example of human minds, which are also affected by our body, and are indeed with all probability affected immediately by our animal and nervous spirits, that is, by the most minute and subtle particles, which are separated from the rest of the blood in our heads.

              β.  Extensively, inasmuch as the same passages just now alleged teach that this most grievous Punishment is going to endure unto all Eternity; so that ORIGEN and his followers, the Origenists, made use of such a preposterous mercy towards Devils, that they are at some point to be made blessed, alleging this against the authority of Scripture; no less contradicting Scripture, when they assert at the same time that the blessedness of the saved is at some point going to be ended, as if the deceased, with the Angels, were subject to certain perpetual vicissitudes after this life, contrary to Luke 16:26.  That ORIGEN himself did indeed assert this, but that he also contradicted himself on this matter, SCULTETUS[1] advises, Medulla Patrum, pages 134, 688.  JEROME, in his Epistola ad Avitum, opera, tome 2, page 154, relates concerning Origen:  Ultimately, he asserted (a thing which it is sacrilegious even to think) that, for the salvation of the demons, Christ would also suffer in the air and in the heavenly places, etc.  Origen took the occasion for erring, as it is noted in the Magdeburg Centuries[2] II, chapter IV, page 44, from the saying of CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, in which, on account of Free Choice, which is not to be denied to Devil, he determines that they are also able to be brought by repentance, Stromata, book I, page 310, ὁ διάβολος, αὐτεξούσιος ὢν, καὶ μετανοῆσαι οἷός τε ἦν, the devil, possessing self-determination, was able to repent.  Whatever the case may be, the Church expressed deep disapproval of this opinion of Origen; indeed, the Orthodox violently shuddered at it, with AUGUSTINE warning, de Hæresibus, chapter XLIII, for what Catholic Christian, whether learned or unlearned, would not violently shudder at that opinion of Origen, namely, the purification of the wicked, that is…that even ultimately the Devil himself and his Angels, even if after incredibly lengthy periods of time, purified and delivered, are going to be restored to the kingdom of God and to the light?  And again, after incredibly long periods of time, all that were delivered are going to relapse and revert to these evils, and have always been and are always going to be alternating between these poles of the beatitudes and miseries of the rational creature?  Concerning which altogether vain impiety he painstakingly disputed in his Books de Civitate Dei against the Philosophers, from whom Origen learned those things.  While, among other things, in book XXI de Civitate Dei, chapter XVII, he notes:  In which matter Origen was certainly quite merciful, who believed that both the Devil himself and his Angels, after punishments, grievous according to deserving and of long duration, are to be plucked from those torments and joined with the holy Angels.  But the Church condemned that, and not without good reason, both because of this last, and because of some other things, and especially because of the alternating beatitudes and miseries without end, and with the intervals of ages from these to those determined, and the unending going and returning from these to those.  Concerning this error of Origen the Most Illustrious ODÉ discourses at length, Commentario de Angelis, section IV, chapter VI, § 11-14, pages 669-671:  compare above, Chapter VII, § 23.

[1] Abraham Scultetus (1566-1624) was a German Reformed scholar, theologian, and historian.  He served as court preacher to the Elector of the Palatinate, and also as Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg.  He was chosen as a representative of the Palatinate to the Synod of Dordt.

[2] The Magdeburg Centuries is an ecclesiastical history covering the first one thousand and three hundred years of the Church, which was compiled by certain Lutheran scholars in Magdeburg, known as the Centuriators of Magdeburg, led by Matthias Flacius Illyricus.  It is a pioneering work in ecclesiastical history, which aims to show the substantial uniformity of the faith of God’s people throughout the centuries, while tracing the parallel development of Antichristian Romanism.