Wishing For Nothing After Death

Nec ignoro plerosque, conscientia meritorum, nihil se esse post mortem magis optare quam credere: malunt enim exstingui penitus, quam ad supplicia reparari. Quorum error augetur, et in saeculo libertate remissa, et Dei patientia maxima: cujus quanto judicium tardum, tanto magis justum est. Et tamen admonentur homines, doctissimorum libris et carminibus poetarum, illius ignei fluminis, et de Stygia palude saepius ambientis ardoris, quae cruciatibus aeternis praeparata, et daemonum indiciis et de oraculis Prophetarum cognita tradiderunt. Et ideo apud eos etiam ipse rex Jupiter per torrentes ripas et atram voraginem jurat religiose; destinatam enim sibi cum suis cultoribus poenam, praescius, perhorrescit. Nec tormentis aut modus ullus, aut terminus. Illic sapiens ignis membra urit et reficit; carpit et nutrit, sicut ignes fulminum corpora tangunt, nec, absumunt; sicut ignes Hennei montis et Lesui montis, et ardentium ubique terrarum flagrant, nec erogantur: ita poenale illud incendium non damnis ardentium pascitur, sed inexesa corporum laceratione nutritur. Eos autem merito torqueri qui Deum nesciunt, ut impios, ut injustos, nisi profanus, nemo deliberat, cum Parentem omnium et omnium Dominum non minoris sceleris sit ignorare quam laedere. Et quamquam imperitia Dei sufficiat ad poenam, ita ut notitia prosit ad veniam, tamen, si vobiscum Christiani comparemur, quamvis in nonnullis disciplina nostra minor est, multo tamen vobis meliores deprehendemur. Vos enim adulteria prohibetis, et facitis; nos uxoribus nostris solummodo viri nascimur: vos scelera admissa punitis; apud nos et cogitare, peccare est: vos conscios timetis, nos etiam conscientiam solam, sine qua esse non possumus. Denique de vestro numero carcer exaestuat: Christianus ibi nullus, nisi aut reus suae religionis, aut profugus. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Cap XXXIV - XXXV

Nor I am not ignorant that many, conscious of their merits, rather wish than believe that they shall be nothing after death, for they would prefer to be utterly extinguished rather than to be restored for punishment. And their error is increased, both by the liberty allowed them in this life, and by God's great patience, whose judgment, the more tardy it is, the more just it is. And yet men are warned in the books and poems of the most learned poets of that fiery river, and of the surrounding heat from the Stygian marsh, things which, prepared for eternal torments, they have been given knowledge by the tales of demons and from the oracles of their prophets. And therefore among them even king Jupiter himself swears religiously by the torrid banks and the black pit, for foreseeing the punishment destined to him, with his worshippers, he shudders. Nor is there any measure or termination to these torments. There the intelligent fire burns limbs and restores them, feeds on them and nourishes them, as the fires of thunderbolts strike bodies and do not consume them, as the fires of Mount Aetna and of Mount Vesuvius, and everywhere the burning earth blazes but is not exhausted, so it is that the penal inferno is not fed by the damned who burn but nourished by the inexhaustible mangling of bodies. But that they who do not know God are deservedly tormented as impious, as unrighteous, no one doubts unless he is profane, since it is not less of a crime to be ignorant of, than to offend the Parent and Lord of all. And although ignorance of God suffices for punishment, even as knowledge of Him may gain pardon, yet if we Christians be compared with you, although in some things our discipline is less, yet we shall be found better than you. For you forbid adulteries and do them, we are born men only for our own wives; you punish crimes committed, with us even to think of a crime is to sin: you fear witnesses, we our  consciences alone, without which we cannot be. Finally, on account of your numbers the prison boils over, but there is no Christian there, unless he is guilty on account of his religion, or a deserter. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Chap 34-35

These are the Holy Things of God

Putatis autem nos occultare quod colimus, si delubra et aras non habemus? Quod enim simulacrum Deo fingam, quam, si recte existimes, sit Dei homo ipse simulacrum? Templum quod ei extruam, quum totus hic mundus, eius opere fabricatus, eum capere non possit? et quam homo latius maneam, intra unam aediculam vim tantae maiestatis includam? Nonne melius in nostra dedicandus est mente, in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore? Hostias et victimas Domino offeram, quas in usum mei protulit, ut reiiciam ei summ munus? ingratum est; quum sit litabilis hostia bonus animus, et pura mens, et sincera sententia. Igitur, qui innocentiam colit. Domino supplicat; qui iustitiam, Deo libat; qui fraudibus abstinet, propitiat Deum; qui hominem pericule surripit, haec Dei sacra sunt; sic apud nos religiosior est ille qui iustior.  Minucius Felix, Octavius, Cap XXXII.

Do you then think that we conceal what we worship, if we have not temples and altars? Why, what image of God shall I make, since, if you should think rightly, man himself is the image of God? What temple shall I raise to Him, when this whole world, wrought by His work, cannot receive Him? And when I, a man, can dwell far and wide, shall I enclose the might of such great majesty within one little building? Were it not better that He should be dedicated in our mind, consecrated in our inmost heart? Shall I offer as victims and sacrifices to the Lord, things He has produced for my use, that I should throw back to Him His own gift? It is ungrateful. The victim fit for sacrifice is one of good spirit, and a pure mind, and a sincere judgment.Therefore he who cultivates innocence supplicates the Lord; he who attends to justice makes offerings to God; he who abstains from fraud propitiates God, and also he who snatches a man from danger. These are the holy things of God. So it is that he who is more religious among us is that man who is more just. Minucius Felix, Octavius,Chap. 32

Enquiring Into Divine Things

Nam interim deos credere, interim se deliberare variavit, ut, propositionis incerto, incertior responsionis nostrae intentio fundaretur. Sed in Natale meo verutiam nolo, non credo: procul est ab eius simplicitate subtilis urbanitas. Quid igitiur? Ut qui rectam viam nescit, ubi, ut fit, in plures una diffunditur, quia viam nescit, haeret anxius, nec singulas audet eligere, nec universas probare; sic cui non est veri stabile iudicium prout infida suspicio spargitur, ita eius dubio opinio dissipatur. Nullum itaque miraculum est, si Caecilius identidem incontrariis ac repugnantibus iactetur aestu et fluctuentur: quod ne fiat ulterius, convincam, et regarduam, quamvis diversa sint, quae dicta sunt; una veritate confirmata probataque, nec dubitandum ei de caetero est, nec vagandam. Et quoniam meus frater erupit aegre se fere, stomachari, indignari, dolere, illiteratos, pauperes, imperitos, de rebus caelestibus disputare; sciat omnes homines sine delectu aetatis, sexus, dignitatis, rationis et sensus capaces et habiles procreatos: nec fortuna nactos, sed natura insitos esse sapientiam: quin ipsos etiam philosophus, vel si qui alii artium repertores in memorias exierunt, prius quam solertia mentis parerent nominis claritatem, habitos esse plebeios, indoctos, seminudos; adeo divites facultatibus suis illigatos, magis aurum suspicere consuesse, quam caelum: nostrates pauperes, et commentos esse prudentiam, et tradidisse caeteris disciplinam. Unde apparet ingenium non dari facultatibus, nec studio parari, sed cum ipsa mentis formatione generari. Nihil itaque indignandum, vel dolendum, si quicumque de divinis quaerat, sentiat, proferat; quum non disputantis auctoritas, sed disputationis ipsius veritas requiatur: atque etiam quo imperitior sermo, hoc illustrior ratio est, quoniam non fucatur pompa facundiae et gratiae, sed, ut est, recti regula sustinetur. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Caput XVI Source: Migne PL 3.280a-283b

For he shifted between believing the gods and deliberating about them, so that the direct purpose of my reply was established with greater uncertainty by the uncertainty of his proposition. But in my friend Natalis I will not allow, nor do I believe in, any chicanery: his honesty is far from cunning trickery. What then? Like a man who is ignorant of the right way, when, as it happens, the one road divides into many, because he knows not the way, he becomes anxious and neither dares choose one nor tries all; so, if a man has no steadfast judgment of truth, even as his untrusting suspicion is scattered, so his doubting opinion is destroyed. Thus it is no wonder if Caecilius is in the same way unsettled, and tossed toward things repugnant and swept away by the swell; but that this may no longer continue, I will convict and refute all said, however diverse, confirming and approving the truth alone; and for the future he must neither doubt nor waver. And since my brother broke out in such difficulty, that he was grieved, vexed, and indignant, that illiterate, poor and unskilled people should dispute about heavenly things; let it be known that all men without preference of age, sex, or dignity are created with a capacity and ability of reasoning and feeling. Nor do they gain wisdom by fortune, but have it implanted by nature; moreover, even the philosopher, or others who have gone forth unto celebrity as discoverers of arts, before they attained an illustrious name by their mental skill, were thought plebeian, untaught, half-naked. Thus it is, that rich men, bound to their means, have been more inclined to gaze upon gold than upon heaven, while our poor folk have pondered wisdom and have handed over the teaching to others; whence it appears that intelligence is not given to wealth, nor is prepared by study, but is generated with the very formation of the mind. Therefore one must not be indignant nor aggrieved if any one should inquire, should think or should utter his thoughts about Divine things; since what is required is not arguments about authority but the truth of the argument itself: and even the more unskilled the speech, the more clear the reasoning, since it is not obscured by the pomp of eloquence and grace; but, as it is, it is sustained by the rule of right. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Chapter 16