The annals of theology, both dogmatic and homiletic, from
the time of the earliest Fathers till now, abound in detailed
accounts of the future punishment of the wicked, whereof the
context, the train of thought, and all the intrinsic characteristics
of style and coherence, do not leave a shadow of doubt that they
were written as faithful, though inadequate, accounts of facts.
The Church, the immense bulk of Christendom, has in theory always
regarded hell and its dire concomitants as material facts,
and not as merely spiritual experiences.

Tertullian says, "The damned burn eternally without consuming, as
the volcanoes, which are vents from the stored subterranean fire
of hell, burn forever without wasting." 5 Cyprian declares that
"the wretched bodies of the condemned shall simmer and blaze in
those living fires." Augustine argues at great length and with
ingenious varieties of reasoning to show how the material bodies
of the damned may withstand annihilation in everlasting fire.6
Similar assertions, which cannot be figuratively explained, are
made by Irenaus, Jerome, Athanasius, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura,
Gerson, Bernard, and indeed by almost all the Christian writers.
Origen, who was a Platonist, and a heretic on many points, was
severely condemned for saying that the fire of hell was inward and
of the conscience, rather than outward and of the body. For the
strict materiality of the fire of hell we might adduce volumes of
authorities from nearly every province of the Church. Dr. Barrow
asserts that "our bodies will be afflicted continually by a
sulphurous flame, piercing the inmost sinews." John Whitaker
thinks "the bodies of the damned will be all salted with fire, so
tempered and prepared as to burn the more fiercely and yet never
consume." Jeremy Taylor teaches that "this temporal fire is but a
painted fire in respect of that penetrating and real fire in
hell." Jonathan Edwards soberly and believingly writes thus: "The
world will probably be converted into a great lake or liquid globe
of fire, a vast ocean of fire, in which the wicked shall be
overwhelmed, which will always be in tempest, in which they shall
be tost to and fro, having no rest day or night, vast waves or
billows of fire continually rolling over their heads, of which
they shall forever be full of a quick sense within and without:
their heads, their eyes, their tongues, their hands, their feet,
their loins, and their vitals shall forever be full