H E 
or whether you go to Hell, you will fuffer condign 
punifliment appointed by them.” 
The Roman poets, like the Grecian, defcribe Furies, 
as avengers of wickednefs in Hell. They reprefent thefe 
Furies as old, fqualid, meagre, pale ; they clothe their 
bodies with black garments; affix to their heads Vipers 
inflead of hair; and arm their hands with fcorpions, 
whips, torches. Megasra, Tifiphone, and AleSto, are 
names given to the Furies. 
The greater part of the Sixth Book of Virgil’s aEneid 
is occupied in relating the defcent of fEneas into Hell, 
and the objefts he there faw. The Poet of courfe in¬ 
dulges’ fidtion : but through the veil of Fable and My¬ 
thology, it is eafy to difcern his own perfualion that 
iniquity and impiety fliall not efcape unpuniflied. Re¬ 
markable to this purpofe are the following lines, in 
Pitt’s Tranflation: 
“ They that on earth had bafe purfuits in view. 
Their brethren hated, or their parents flew, 
And, dill more numerous, they who fwell’d their ftore, 
But ne’er reliev’d their kindred or the poor ; 
Or in a caufe unrighteous fought and bled; 
Or periffi’d in the foul adulterous bed ; 
Or broke the ties of faith with dark deceit; 
Imprifon’d deep, their deflined torments wait.” 
j£n. vi. 846. 
The Editor of Virgil, Dr. Jofeph Warton, remarks 
on this palfage: “Let thofe who think reading the 
poets an ufelefs and 'rifling fludy, attentively confider 
the noble and jud moral that is contained in this de- 
fcription of the criminals whom our poet hath, here fe- 
lefted to be puniflied. Bidiop Wafburton obferves, that 
“ this palfage relates to the infringers of the duties of 
imperfect obligation, which Civil Laws cannot reach : 
fitch as, want of natural affection to brothers, duty to 
parents, protection to clients, and charity to the poor.” 
He adds, “ next to thefe are placed, thofe peds of public 
and private peace, the traitor and the adulterer. It is 
obfervable, he does not fay Amply, adulleri, but ob adul¬ 
ter ium ccef ; as implying, that the greatefl civil pumffi- 
ment makes no atonement for this crime at the bap of 
divine juflice.” 
In giving defcriptions of “Hell,” Homer was fol¬ 
lowed by Virgil, and both have been imitated by fub- 
Jequent Poets ; Quevedo, for indance, and Dante. Our 
own poet Milton hath drawn a picture of it in terms 
perhaps more ffrong than either : 
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views 
The difmal fituation wade and wild ; 
A dungeon horrible on all fides round 
As one great furnace flam’d, yet from thofe flames 
Ho light, but rather darknefs vidble 
Serv’d only to difcover dghts of woe, 
Regions of for row, doleful (hades, where peace 
And red can never dwell, hope never conies 
That comes to all; but torture without end 
Still urges, and a defy deluge, fed 
With ever-burning fulphur unconfum’d. 
Par. L. B. i. 59. 
Before we leave the poetical accounts of “ Hell,” and 
particularly thofe which we And in Homer and Virgil, 
who were prior to tfle Chriflian iEra, it is material to ob- 
ferve, thofe Writers did not precede , but followed popular 
opinion: they did not invent , but exaggerated the idea, 
that Punifliment after death awaits the crimes of life. 
The idea had its foundation and was rooted in the hu¬ 
man mind before the conceptions of fancy could add to 
its enlargement. We cannot have a dronger proof, that 
the idea of future punidiment is natural and familiar to 
Man, than- by feeing Man, and hearing his opinions, 
before,he was acquainted with the do&rines either of 
Jewifli or Chridian Religion. Let us turn then to the 
L L. 331 
“ Decads of Peter Martyr.” In B. ili. Dec. 1. p.43. 
we And this paffage : 
“ Whild the Admiral (Columbus) was hearing divine 
fervice on the ffiore, (of Cuba,) to his aflonifliment there 
came a Chief about eighty years old, a man refpeCtable, 
yet naked, and with him a large company of attendants. 
Struck with admiration, during the performance of the 
religious ceremonies, lie dood fllent, and with his eyes 
Axed : but when they were concluded, he prefetited to 
the Admiral a balket Ailed with the fruits of his coun¬ 
try, which he carried in his hand ; and fitting down near 
him, by means of Didacus, an interpreter, who came, 
from one of the colonies, and who, upon near approach, 
underdood that draledt, he fpake to this effedt: 
“ We have been told, that with your powerful army 
you have made a rapid progrefs through all thofe lands., 
with which heretofore you were unacquainted ; and that 
you have greatly t’errifled the people who inhabit them. 
Know then, by my exhortation and admonition, That 
for the Souls of Men departed from their Bodies, there 
are Two different ways of dedination ; the one dark 
and horrible, prepared for thofe who diflurb and annoy 
Mankind ; the other pleafant and delightful, appointed 
for thofe, who during life have loved the peace and 
tranquillity of nations. If you will remember that you 
are Mortal, and that Future Retributions are refervci 
for every perfon, proportioned to his prefent adtions, 
you will make no one unhappy.” 
Hell by the Jews was called School. By which they 
literally meant an abyfs immeafurable, dark, defolate. 
In a Agurative fenfe they ufed the fame term, to exprefs 
the place of eternal mifery, to which the wicked will 
hereafter be conflgned. 
The Tranflator.s of the Original Hebrew Scriptures, 
who are commonly didlnguiffied by the appellation of 
the Seventy, introduce the word Gehenna, which 
AgniAes the “ Valley of Hinnom,” and which at the 
time of our Lord’s Minidry, was taken Aguratively for 
“ Hell,” the region of wicked and condemned Spirits. 
This Valley of Hinnoir), or Gehenna, was called alfo 
Tophet; a word derived from Toph, a drum: for, 
when in this Valley Children were facriAced to the Idol 
Moloch, drums or other loudly-founding indruments 
rendered the cries of thofe infants inaudible. 
Our Lo r d makes a Agurative application of Gehenna, 
and expreffes himfelf in terms very flmilar to thofe of 
Ifaiah Ch. lxvi. 24. The late very learned Bp. Lowth, 
in his Notes on that paffage, illudrates equally the text 
of the prophet, and thofe in St. Matthew v. 22. and 
St. Mark ix. 43. “ Thefe words of the Prophet are 
applied by our Bleffed Saviour, Markix. 43. to ex¬ 
prefs the everlading punifhment of the wicked in Ge¬ 
henna, or in Hell. Gehenna, or.the Valley of Hinnom, 
was very near to Jerufalem to the fouth-eafl ; it was 
the place where the idolatrous Jews celebrated that hor¬ 
rible rite of making their children pafs through the Are, 
that is, of burning them in facriAce, to Moloch.. To 
put a flop to this abominable prabtice, Joflah defied, 
or defecrated, the place, by Ailing it with human bones,. 
2 Kings xxiii. 10-14. and probably it was the cuflom 
afterwards to throw out the carcafes of animals there : 
and it became the common burying-place for the poorer 
people of Jerufalem. Our Saviour expreffed the place 
of torment under the image of Gehenna; and the punidi¬ 
ment of the wicked, by the worm which preyed there 
bn the carcafes, and the Are which confumed the 
wretched victims. Marking however, in the dronged 
manner, the difference between Gehenna and the invifl- 
ble place of torment ; namely, that in the former the 
fuffering is tranflent, the worm itfelf, that preys on the 
body, dies; and the Are, which totally confumes it, is 
foon extinguiflied: whereas in the Agurative Gehenna 
the indruments of punidiment fliall be’ everlading, and. 
the fuffering without end: for there “ the worm dieth 
