59: Concerning Hell

'Hell is one, O my disciples, and in it the damned shall suffer punishment eternally. Yet hath it seven rooms or regions, one deeper than the other, and he who goeth to the deepest shall suffer greater punishment. Yet are my words true concerning the sword of the angel Michael, for he that committeth but one sin meriteth hell, and he that committeth two sins meriteth two hells. Therefore in one hell shall the reprobates feel punishment as though they were in ten, or in a hundred or in a thousand; and the omnipotent God, through his power and by reason of his justice, shall cause Satan to suffer as though he were in ten hundred thousand hells, and the rest each one according to his wickedness.'

   Then answered Peter: 'O master, truly the justice of God is great, and today this discourse hath made thee sad; therefore, we pray thee, rest, and to-morrow tell us what hell is like.'
    Jesus answered: 'O Peter, thou tellest me to rest; O Peter, knowest not what thou sayest, else thou hadst not spoken thus. Verily I say unto you, that rest in this present life is the poison of piety and the fire which consumeth every good work. Have ye then forgotten how Solomon, God's prophet, with all the prophets, hath reproved sloth? True it is that he saith: "The idle will not work the soil for fear of the cold, therefore in summer shall he beg!" Wherefore he said: "All that thy hand can do, do it without rest." And what saith Job, the most innocent friend of God: "As the bird is born to fly, man is born to work." Verily I say unto you, I hate rest above all things.'