332 H E 
npt, and the fire is not quenched.”—See Biflvop Lowth’s 
.Tran Illation- of I fa i ah : Note on V. 24. Ch. lxvi. 
Hell, by the Mahornmedans, is fuppofed to be “di¬ 
vided into feven ftories or apartments, one below anoi 
ther, defigned for the reception of as many diftindt 
efaffei of the damned. The fil'd, which they call .Je- 
herinam, they fay, will be the receptacle of thofe who 
were wicked Mahomrhedans ; who, rafter having there 
been punifhed according to their demerits, will at length 
be releafed. The fecond, named Ladha, they aflign to 
the Jews. The third, named al'Hotama, to the Chrif- 
tians. The fourth, named al Sair, to the Sabians. Tfve 
fifth, named Sakar, to the Magians. The fiXth, named 
al Jahim, to the idolaters. And the feventh, which is 
the lowed and word of all, and is called al Hauiiyat, to 
the hypocrites, or thofe who outwardly profeded forne 
religion, but in their hearts were of none.”—“ The 
-wicked will fuffer both from intenfe heat and excefiive 
cold.”—“ The degrees of pains will vary in proportion 
to the crimes of the fudeier, and to the apartment to 
which he is condemned.”—“ The mifery will be greatly 
increafed by.defpair of ever being delivered from the 
-place (of torment), fince, according to that frequent 
exprefiion in the Koran, (unlefs they have been Mahom- 
medans,) they mufi remain therein for ever.”—See Prelimi¬ 
nary Difcourfe to Sale’s Koran, p. 121, 122. Ed. 1764. 
Hell has been diverfified in its locality, according 
to the diderent imaginations of Writers in different ages 
and countries. Some have placed it in the centre of 
the Earth; fome in the Sun; fome-in Comets. Difcuf- 
fions bn this fubjedt are all nugatory, becaufe after all 
that can be faid on the precife fituation of “ Hell,” in 
its Fird Acceptation, we mud conclude, as we began, 
with ambiguity. With Barrow therefore we adopt 
the words of Austin, Melius ejl dubitare de occultis, quant 
.iidgare de iiicertis; “ It is better to doubt of things, hid¬ 
den, than quarrel about things uncertain.” We adopt 
alfo the declaration of Calvin, Stultum et temerarium ejl 
de rebus incognitis altius inquirere, quam Deus nobis feire per - 
mittit ; “ It is foOlilh and rafh to enquire concerning 
things unknown, more deeply than God permits us to 
know.” 
But although we rejedt, as endlefs and therefore ufe- 
lefs, alhdifpute about the exadf fituation of “ Hell,” 
yet reafoning as we do from the Attributes of God, and 
Supported as we are by the warranty of Scripture, we 
cannot but conceive there will be fome Region where 
condign punifhment will hereafter await the impeni- 
tehtly wicked. 
God is the Moral Governor of the Univerfe. As 
fuch, it were irreverend to fuppofe, that He will fuffer 
the Eternal Taws of Right and Wrong to be violated 
with impunity. In the prefent date of things, Evil, on 
innumerable occafions, goes unpunifhed by human or 
divine judice. Arguing therefore from the Righteouf-. 
nefs of God, we cannot but conclude, that the Evil, not 
punifhed here, will be punifhed hereafter. This is an 
inference even of Natural Religion, and the uniform 
language of Scripture mod completely and directly eda- 
blifhes its confidency w'ith truth. 
It is well laid down by Wollafion, as an incontro¬ 
vertible Propofition, that as God has appointed all things 
with infinite Wifdom, and has ordained a Future State 
as a receptacle from this State of Probation, “ the Man- 
dons and Conditions of the Virtuous Part (of Mankind) 
mud be proportionably better than thofe of the Vicious.” 
See Rel.of Nat. Del. Sett. 9. Prop. 13.—Here, it is one 
indance of trial, that the Good fliould live with the 
Bad in the fame Civil Community : but hereafter, as 
the time of trial will have ceafed, that indance of it, 
which in truth is often vexatious, offenfive, and grievous, 
will have ceafed alfo,. The Good will go to their man- 
fions; the Evil to their abodes. 
L L. 
The Univerfe hath neither bounds nor limits. In 
infinite fpace there may be innumerable habitations for 
the Juft and Good. By parity of reafon, there may be 
innumerable habitations for the-Unjud and Evil. In 
itfelf Virtually, and as a region of exclufion from Divine 
Favour and from affocia’tion with Spirits Jiid and Good, 
each habitation of the Unjud and Evil will be a “Kell.’'’ 
Add to this, the conliderationj that as their Paffions will 
be no longer excited by feufual allurements, nor their 
Intered biafled by external objects of defire; Under- 
Handing, Reafort, and Confidence, will refume their due 
■force, and ftiew them fird their own depravity, and then 
the confequent .feparation from God and Good'Spirits 
which they have thereby incurred. And as that fepara- 
tion is eternal, eternal mud be the anguifh of knowing 
and. feeling the catifcand exteht of fuch feparation. And 
in this way of putting the cafe, which is founded in the 
Nature of Things;, and in the ideas of Scripture, we 
find the Reafonablenefs and the Inevitability of Eternal 
Mifery in the feparate date allotted to the Wicked ; 
and which, in the common ufe of the term, we denomi¬ 
nate “ Hell.” 
But in a fecond, and indeed an important fienfe, the 
word Hell is iifed to exprefs either “The Grave;’* 
or, “ The feparate date of Departed Spirits;” not con¬ 
fining it to the abode either of the Good or Bad exclu- 
fively, but taking it in a general way, the limitation of 
which is to be guided by the context of the Pafl'age 
where it may occur. The Apodles Creed fets forth 
concerning our Lord, that “ He defeended into Kell.” 
There hath been much controverfy about that claufe ; 
but with the two learned and excellent Expofitors of 
our Catechifm, Wake and Secke-r, we may venture 
to interpret the word “ Hell” in our Creed, as meaning 
“The Place into which the Souls of Men go when fe- 
parated from their Bodies.” And, if we would come 
yet clofer to the point, fo as to particularife that Place, 
we are aufhorifed, by the words of our Lord, in fay¬ 
ing, “ It was fome Place in which the Spirits of the 
Good have immediate perception of Happinefs.” The 
penitent Malefactor was confoled by our Lord with 
this promife : “ To-day thou flialt be with me in Para- 
dife.” St.Luke xxiii. 43. With this declaration it is im- 
poflible to reconcile any acceptation of the word “ Hell” 
in our Creed, but that which was adopted by Wake and 
Seeker ; who indeed followed many Divines entertaining 
the fame opinion. 
Hell, by a Metonymy is ufed for intimating the 
“ Inhabitants of Helland indeed it feems almoit to 
be Perfonified. 
In Milton we read, of the effett produced by the 
Mufic of the fallen Angels: 
Their fong was partial, but the harmony 
(What could it lefs when Spirits immortal fing?) 
Sufpended Hell, and took with ravifhment 
The thronging audience. Par. L. ii. 552. 
In that moll fublime and nobleLong of triumph, which 
Ifaiah conceived would be applicable oh, the future 
overthrow of the- opprefiive and haughty tyrant of Ba¬ 
bylon, the Prophet introduces “Hell” as moved to 
meet him : “ It ftirreth up the dead for thee ; even all 
the chief ones of the earth; it hath raifed up from their 
thrones all the kings of the nations.” If. xiv. 9. Thus 
paraphrafed by Lowth: 
Te propter, imis concita fedibus 
Nigrantis Orci magna fremit dormis: 
En ! luce defunflos Tyrannos, 
Sceptrigeras foliis ab altis 
Excivit Umbras; hofpitis in novi 
Occurfum euntes. 
De Sacra Poefi Hebrieoriim, Priel. 28. 
Whom 
