Objection 1: It would seem that by God’s mercy all punishment of the damned, both men and demons, comes to an end. For it is written: you have mercy upon all, O Lord, because you can do all things (Wis 11:24). But among all things the demons also are included, since they are God’s creatures. And therefore their punishment will come to an end.

Obj. 2: Further, God has concluded all in sin, that he may have mercy on all (Rom 11:32). Now God has concluded the demons under sin, that is to say, he permitted them to be concluded. Therefore, it would seem that he will have mercy even on the demons.

Obj. 3: Further, as Anselm says (Cur Deus Homo II), it is not just that God should permit the utter loss of a creature which he made for happiness. Therefore, since every rational creature was created for happiness, it would seem unjust for it to be allowed to perish altogether.

On the contrary, It is written: depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). Therefore, they will be punished eternally.

Further, Just as the good angels were made happy through turning to God, so the bad angels were made unhappy through turning away from God. Therefore, if the unhappiness of the wicked angels comes at length to an end, the happiness of the good will also come to an end, which is inadmissible.

I answer that, As Augustine says (The City of God 21) Origen (Cf. I, Q. 64, A. 2) erred in maintaining that the demons will at length, through God’s mercy, be delivered from their punishment. Now, this error has been condemned by the Church for two reasons. First, because it is clearly contrary to the authority of Sacred Scripture: the devil who seduced them was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beasts and the false prophets shall be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 20:9–10), which is the Scriptural expression for eternity.

Second, because this opinion exaggerated God’s mercy in one direction and depreciated it in another. For it would seem equally reasonable for the good angels to remain in eternal happiness, and for the wicked angels to be eternally punished. Therefore, just as he maintained that the demons and the souls of the damned are to be delivered at length from their sufferings, so he maintained that the angels and the souls of the blessed will at length pass from their happy state to the unhappiness of this life.

Reply Obj. 1: God, for his own part, has mercy on all. Since, however, his mercy is ruled by the order of his wisdom, the result is that it does not reach to certain people who render themselves unworthy of that mercy, as do the demons and the damned, who are obstinate in wickedness. And yet we may say that even in them his mercy finds a place, insofar as they are punished less than they deserve condignly, but not that they are entirely delivered from punishment.

Reply Obj. 2: In the words quoted the distribution [of the predicate] regards the genera and not the individuals: so that the statement applies to men in the state of wayfarer, inasmuch as he had mercy both on Jews and on Gentiles, but not on every Gentile or every Jew.

Reply Obj. 3: Anselm means that it is not just in the sense of becoming God’s goodness, and is speaking of the creature generically. For it becomes not the divine goodness that a whole genus of creature fail of the end for which it was made: wherefore it is unbecoming for all men or all angels to be damned. But there is no reason why some men or some angels should not perish forever, because the intention of the divine will is fulfilled in the others who are saved.