hell; there, as just observed, children is burnt with fire, and sacrificed to Molecht; which her id custom the Israelites borrowed from their neighbours the Canaanpes, or Phœuicians; and who carried it into their several colonies, and particulady to Carthage; where, a Diodorus Siculus relates, the inhabitants had a statue of Saturn, the same with Molech, whose hands were put in such a position, that when children were put into them, they rolled down, and fell into a chasm," or dit fell of fire; a fit emblem of the fire of hell, often called in scripture a Jake of The. 5. Sometimes this place is called the deep abyss, c1 bottomless pit: Mic divils, when they came out of the man, in whom was a legion, besought Chist the would not order them to go into the deep, which seems to be their place et tull torment, since they deprecated going into it, Luke viii. 31. and is the same with the bottomless pit Abaddon is king of, and into which, Satan when bonnd, will be cast, Rev. ix. 1. 11. and xx. 3.-6. Another name it has in the New Testament, is Hades, which signifies an invisible state, a state of darkness. Some derive it from the word Adamah, earth, from whence the first Adam; so that to go down to Hades, is no other than to return to the earth, from whence man was; and the word may signify the grave, in Rev. i. 18. and xx. 13, 14. bir it cannot be understood, in Luke xvi. 23. when the rich man died, was buried, and his body laid in the earth, it is said, in Hades, in hell he lift up his cyes; which can never Le meant of the grave; it is spoken of as dis tinct from that; and as elsewhere, it is said to be a place of torment; whereas the grave is a place of ease and rest; between this, and where Abraham and Lazarus were, was a gulf, that divided them from one another; whereas in the grave all lie promiscuously: so the gates of hell, in Matt. xvi. 18. must mean something else, and not the gates of the grave.-7. Another word by which it is expressed, is Tartarus; and this also but in one place, and comprehended in a verb there used, 2 Pet. i 4. God spared not the angels that sinned; but, Tagraguais, cast them down to tartanus, or hell; which word, though only used in this place, yet that, with others, belonging to it, is to be met with frequently in heathen-writers, who speak of the Titans, and others, that rebelled against the gods, much in the same language as the apostle docs of the angels, as bound and cast down to Tartarus; which they describe as a dark place, and as distant from the earth, as the earth is froth the heaven : and, indeed, the story of the Titans, seems to be hammered out of the scriptural account of the fallen angels; and so Plato" speaks of wicked men, guilty of capital crimes, as cast into Tartarus, or hell; and also of a place where three ways met two of which leads, the one to the islands of the blessed, the others to Tartarus. Some derive this word from a Greek word, which signifies to trouble, it being a place of tribulation and anguish: and others from a Chaldean word, which signifies to fail, 1 Biblioth. 1. 20. p. 156. τα Apollodorus de Deor. Orig. 1. 1. p. 2. 4. Phurnutus de Nat. Deor. p. 11.39. çido es rugtagov neporta, Homer. Iliad. 8. v. 13. Tartaro tenebricoso Hygin. fab. 146. vid. fab 150. In Phædone, p. 84. In Gorgia, p. 357. vid. Virgil. Æneid. 6. v. 549. &, Socrates pud Plutarch, de Consol, ad Apoll. p. 121, to subside, to go to the bottom, as being a low, inferior place; hence called hell from beneath. II. There are words and phrases by which the future punishment of the wicked is expressed; and which may serve to give a further account of the na→ ture of it. —. It is represented as a prison; so the fallen angels are said to be cast into hell, as into a prison, and where they lie in chains, and are reserved to the judgment of the great day. And the spirits that were disobedient in the days of Noah, arc expressly said to be in prison, 2 Pet. i. 4. Wicked men are not only criminals, but debtors; and whereas they have not with which to pay their debts, and no surety to pay them for them, to prison they must go till the uttermost farthing is paid, which never will be, Matt. v. 26. So Plato speaks of Tartarus as a prison of just punishment; for those who have lived unrighte ously and ungodly. 2. It is spoken of as a state of darkness, of blackness of darkness, Jude verse 13.. of the grossest, thickest darkness that can be conceived of; of outer darkness, Matt. viii. 12. those in it being without, shut out of the kingdom of light, the inheritance of the saints in light; and so like the darkness of the Egyptians, and such as might be felt; when the Israelites had light in all their dwellings: or, like the kingdom of the beast, said to be full of darkness: all which sets forth the very uncomfortable condition of the wicked being without the light of God's countenance, and the joys of heaven. 3. It is set forth by fire, Matt. v. 21. than which nothing gives more pain, nor is more excruciating; by a furnace of fire, Matt. xiii. 42, 50. like that which Nebuchad nezzar caused to be heated seven times hotter than usual, for Daniel's three companions to be cast into, who refused to worship his image, than which no thing can be convinced of more dreadful; and by a lake of fire, and of brimstone also, which enrages the fire, and increases the strength of it, Rev. xx. 10, 15. in allusion to the sulphureous lake Asphaltites, where. Sodom and Gomorrah stood; all which serve to give an idea of the wrath of God, poured out on the wicked like fire, and the quick sense they will have of it. 4. It is expressed by a worm that never dies, Mark ix. 44-48. to die such a death as Herod did, to be eaten of worms, to have a man's flesh gnawn off of his bones by them till he dies, must be very dreadful, but what is this to the continual gnawings of a guilty conscience. This continued consciousness of guilt, and feeling of divine wrath for sin, are but faintly expressed by the heathens, by vultures feeding on the heart of Tytius in hell; or by a serpent eating out his liver, which grew again as fast as eaten.-5. This is what is called the second death, Rev. xxi. 8. of which good men shall not be hurt, and on whom it shall have no power, but wicked men will ever abide under it, shall not become extinct, neither in soul nor body, though they may wish for it. This is death eternal, so called, not from a defect of life; nor from the quality of living, being always In Gorgia, p. 356. & Socrates apud Plutarch. de Consol, ad Apoll. p. 121. derns de Deor. Orig. p. 10. Hygin. fab. 55. ་ • Apollo dying, yet never die. - 6. A variety of phrases is used, to signify the terribleness of the future punishment of the wicked; as by tearing them in pieces, as a lion tears his prey; by cutting them asunder, in allusion to punishments of this kind, Agag was hewed to pieces by Samuel; or to sacrifices, cut up when offered as victims; and by drowning men in perdition, which denotes the utter destruction of them; and by weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, through grief, malice, and envy. 7. By the wrath of God, which comes upon the children of disobedience; by wrath to come, men are warned to flee from; and from which Christ only can deliver them; and by indignation and wrath on every soul of man that does evil. And this is what is chiefly intended by the several words and phrases before observed; and in a sense of which the future punishment of the wicked will greatly lie; as will appear by considering, III. The species and sorts of that punishment; or the parts of which it consists, and wherein it lies: it is usually distinguished into pæna damna, punishment of loss; and pæna sensus, punishment of sense; nor is the distinction amiss, provided they are considered as together, and meeting in the same subject, as they do in the fallen angels; who sinning, were cast out of heaven, were driven from the presence of God, and so lost their original happiness; and were cast down to hell, and so punished with a sense of divine wrath: and both may be observed together in the sentence pronounced on the wicked at the general judgment; Depart from me, there is the punishment of loss; ye cursed, into everlasting fire, there is the punishment of sense; the one is the loss of the divine presence; the other a feeling of the curse of the law, and the wrath of God; and there cannot be the one without the other: some have thought, that only the punishment of loss, but not of sense, will be sustained by devils, and wicked men, before the day of judgment; but though the devils may not be in full torment till then, yet not exempt from any, since they are cast down to hell; and as for wicked men, they are immediately after death in a state of pain, and under a sense of it, as the rich man in hell, being in torment: and others are of opinion, that such as die without actual sin, and are only guilty of original sin, shall only suffer the former, but not the latter, But as the scriptures say little of the case of such, it becomes us to say little also, and leave it to the wise and just Disposer of all things: yet if eternal death is the demerit of original sin, it is not easy to say how there can be one sort of punishment without the other; where there is a loss, there will be a sense of it, or else it is no punishment; and a sense of it will give pain; though as there are degrees of punishment of sin as will be seen anon, it is reasonable to believe, the punishment of such will be comparatively a milder one, as Augustin expresses it: no doubt there were many such among the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, when those cities were destroyed and yet the apostle says of them in general, that they were suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude verse 7. But to proceed, : 1. There is the punishment of loss, which will consist of a privation of all good things. 1. Of God the chiefest good; as the enjoyment of God, is man's chief happiness, so a privation of that enjoyment is his greatest infelicity; the angels, when they sinned, and so Adam, when he sinned, were driven from the presence of God. And though wicked men desire not the presence of God, but say, depart from us, that is, this is the language of their lives and actions; yet when they come to be punished with everlasting destruction fro.n the presence of the Lord; a great part of that destruction will lie in an eternal separation from it; it will be dreadful to thein, as it was an aggravation of the punishment of Cain, and made it intolerable to him, though a wicked man; From thy face shall be hid! so to be everlastingly banished from God, without any hope of his favour, will be dreadful: the words of an ancient writer" are, "Many men only fear hell-fire; but I say, the loss of that glory (the glory of God and of heaven) is much greater than hell, or the punishment of sense : if it cannot be proved by word, it is not to be wondered at; for we do not know the happiness of good things, till we clearly know the misery of evil things, from the privation of those good things."-2. Of Christ, the light and life of men, the light of grace, and the light of glory, in whom all salvation is; as death is the privation of life in a natural sense, eternal death is a privation of eternal life in Christ; as blindness is a privation of sight, and darkness of light ; so the judicial blindness and darkness of the infernal state, is a privation of the sight of Christ, and of light, life, and salvation by him; as the happiness of glorified saints, will lie in beholding Christ, and seeing his glory; the miserable state of the wicked will lie in being eternally deprived of such a sight; and therefore this is always in the awful sentence pronounced on them by Christ; Depart from me, ye cursed; or depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, Matt. vii. 23. -3. Of the grace, peace, and joy of the Holy Ghost, of which they are desutute now, and will for ever be deprived of it; which will be in perfection in the kingdom of heaven; and instead of that, nothing but distress, anguish, and horror of mind; having no rest, no ease, nor peace day and night, Rev. xiv. 11, 4. Of the company of angels and saints: they will be tormented in the presence of the angels, without receiving any benefit by them, or relief from them: they will be sensible of the happiness of the saints, which will aggravate their misery; they will not be able to come at them, and share with them in their bliss; nor have the least degree of consolation from them; the rich man saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, but could not obtain one dip of the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue. This seems to be the Tantalus of the heathens, or what they mean by Tantalus; a man athirst and hungry, standing in water up to his chin, and pleasant fruits just at his hips, and yet he not able to quench his thirst with the one, nor to satisfy his hunger with the other; yca, they will not have the least pity shewn them by God, angels or men; God will mock at their destruction; angels will applaud his righteous judgment, and 'Chrysostom. Homil. 47. ad pop, Antioch. Quærit aquas in aquis & pom fugacia captat Tantalus: hoc illi garrula lingua dedit, Ovid. Amon eleg. 1. v. 43. lygin. fab. 82. -- the holy apostles and prophets, and all the saints, will rejoice over them, as they will over Babylon, and at her destruction, because of the justice of God being glorified by it. 5. Of the kingdom of heaven, from whence they will be excinded, and of the glories and joys of it, of which they will be for ever deprived, they will see the patriarchs and prophets, and all the saints, in the kingdom of God, and they themselves thrust out; the door will be shut upon them, and no entrance allowed them; they will be obliged to stand without, where dogs are; and will be cast into outer darkness, for ever deprived of the light of joy and comfort. 11. There is the punishment of sense, and which will lie both in body and sou!; for both will be destroyed in hell, and be sensible of the fire of it. → 1. The body: hence we often read of the whole body, and of the several mem-bers of it with it, being cast into hell, Mark ix. 43-47. now though these are proverbial, or parabolical phrases, yet they have a meaning in them, and have respect to corporal punishment, which will be endured in the body, some way or another. The body is subservient to the soul in the commission of sin; its members are yielded as instruments of unrighteousness; that little member the tongue, is a world of iniquity, defiles the whole body, and is productive of many evils; and it is but just therefore, that the body should have its share in the purishment of sin; and for this purpose is the resurrection of the body, that sinful men may receive the just demerit of their sinful actions done in their bodies. It is a question moved, whether the fire of hell is a material fire? No doubt that it is not the only thing meant by it, nor the chief, which is the fire of divine wrath, in which figurative sense it is often taken; though it seems to be sometimes taken in a proper sense, since it has those things ascribed to it which belong to fire properly so called, as smoke, flame, heat, &c. and, indeed, how the body can be affected with any other, is not easy to say, unless by sympathy with the soul, sustaining the fire of divine wrath; nor is it any objection, that the bodies of the wicked will be raised immortal, as never more to die; whereas they would be liable to be consumed, if cast into material fire. To which it may be answered, they may be preserved, by the power of God, from being con. sumed by it; as the three men in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace were preserved in the midst of it for their safety, so may wicked men be preserved in the furnace of fire for their punishment. And there are such things in nature which are not consumed by fire; as a sort of flax, and cloth made of it, cleansed by burning it; and a precious stone, set on fire, which is not to be quenched; for which reason both have the name of asbestos', unquenchable: and there is a sort of fly, called pyrausta, or the fire-fly, which lives in the fire. Besides, this fire may not be, as doubtless it is not, the same with our culinary fire; it may be, like that, excruciating, but not consuming; as we see with respect to Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 19. c. 1. & l. 37. c. 10. Strabo, 1. 10. p. 307. Pancirol. rer. memorab. & Salmuth, in ibid. p. 16. vid. Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. $52, &c. & vol. 4. par.2. p. 28.. |