[180]. Eccl. xi.
[181]. The revelation was given March, 1830; Doc. and Cov. sec. xix.
[182]. Mark xvi:16.
[183]. The so-called early fathers of the church, Justin Martyr, Clement, of Alexandria, Tertullian and Cyprian, all taught that the fire of hell is a real material flame, and that the wicked were punished in it eternally. Augustine in the fifth century stated the same doctrine with great emphasis and argued against those who sought to modify it. (See Augustine's City of God. Part II, book xx, and xxi).Thomas Aquinas (A-kwi-nas) of the mediaeval school of theologians, rising head and shoulders above divines of his day, teaches in his Summa Theologia, that the fire of hell is of the same nature as ordinary fire, though with different properties; that the place of punishment though not definitely known is probably under the earth. He also taught that there was no redemption for those once damned, their punishment is to be eternal. Coming to more modern times, we read in the Westminster Confession of Faith—adopted in the seventeenth century by the Puritan party in England—the following on the subject (ch. xxxiii): "The wicked who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be cast into eternal torment and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." Question twenty-nine of the larger catechism and the answer to it are as follows: "What are the punishments of sin in the world to come. Ans. The punishments of sin in the world to come are everlasting separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous torment in soul and body, without intermission, in hell fire forever." The Westminster Confession and the large catechism are still the standards of the Presbyterian churches. Indeed the above expresses the orthodox Christian faith from the second and third centuries until the present time.
[184]. I Peter iii:18-21.
[185]. I Peter iv:6.
[186]. I Cor. xv:29.
[187]. Doc. and Cov. sec. cxxvii and cxxviii.
[188]. Rom. ii:6-12; I Cor. iii:8; II Cor. v:10; Rev. ii:23; xx:12.
[189]. St. John xiv:1-3.