Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
Read Chapter 140
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
13. "Coals of fire shall fall upon them upon earth, and Thou shalt cast them down" (ver. 10). What is, "upon earth"? Here, even in this life, here "coals of fire shall fall upon them." What are, "coals of fire"? We know these coals. Are they different from those of which we are about to speak? For these I see avail for punishment, those that I am about to speak of, for salvation. For we have spoken of certain coals, when man was seeking aid against a treacherous tongue. ...The examples of the "coals" are added to the wound of the arrows (for I need not fear to say "the wound," when the Spouse herself saith, "I am wounded with love" ), and then the hay is consumed, and so they are called "devouring coals." The hay is devoured, but the gold is purified, and the man exchanges death for life, and begins to be himself too a burning coal; such a coal as was the Apostle, "who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious," a coal black and extinguished; but when he had obtained mercy...
Fire of hell, (Worthington; Chaldean) as well as temporal afflictions, from lightning, Psalm xvii. 9. (Haydock)
Some have ridiculed the belief of hell. But the universality of this opinion is a strong proof of it, as it is also confirmed by revelation. (Berthier)
