They were all used as the name of an imaginary place supposed by the ancient Hebrews to lie deep under the earth, and to be the common receptacle and abode of all departed spirits, whether good or bad. But in process of time hell has gradually become the most fearful word in human language. It is now the proper name of what has been euphoniously called "the world of wo," the everlasting abode of damned souls, the scene of future indescribable and interminable torments!

Some have curiously, though perhaps unwisely, inquired when this place was made. It is not mentioned among the other works of creation, and seems to have formed no part of "the heavens and the earth" created by God in the beginning. But no argument against its existence, surely can be inferred from this silence, though we might perhaps be justified in concluding from this circumstance that it does not belong to this system. Some have supposed that hell was made at a very early period. There are those among the learned Jews who tell us that "there were seven things which were made before the creation of the world," and among these they reckon hell. Indefinite as this piece of information is, and suspicious as its authority may be, it is unfortunately all that we have on the subject, and all probably that, in our present state of ignorance and imperfection, we have any reason to expect.

Others have been far more seriously puzzled by the inquiry where hell is located. On this point there have been very various and conflicting opinions. The more ancient doctrine was that hell is under the earth. This notion is obviously to be traced to the Scripture representations of Sheol and Hades, which were uniformly spoken of as beneath, or down deep under the surface of the earth. This doctrine was somewhat disturbed by the discovery that the earth is a globe, and many very sincere believers in hell were grievously distressed about its locality. Some of the astronomers, among whom was Whiston, if I mistake not, conjectured that hell might be found in one of the comets. Others, among whom was the Rev. Tobias Swinden, believed that hell is located in the sun. Modern geological inquiries, which render it probable that the interior of the earth is in a state of fusion and of a very high degree of heat, seem to be bringing some orthodox minds back to the ancient faith, and are persuading them that hell is after all in the centre of our earth. Milton, who is the highest authority on points connected with this subject, has been rather indefinite, and his geography of hell, to say the best of it, is far from being satisfactory. All that we learn from him respecting the locality of hell is that it is at an immeasurable distance downward from "heaven and earth," from which it is separated by the realm of Chaos and Old Night,

"The hoary deep, a dark

Illimitable ocean without bound,

Without dimension; where length, breadth and height,
And time and place are lost."

In this it is but just to say that Milton differs widely from the Jewish Rabbins, who maintain that hell is in the immediate neighborhood of Paradise, nay only "a hand's breadth," and some say only two fingers' breadth, or even "the thickness of a thread from it." I like the modesty of Dr. Trapp, who says,

"The place allotted to this scene of wo

We know not."

Though afterwards with all his modesty, he very innocently falls into a little dogmatism on the subject by assuring us that it is at an immeasurable distance from heaven.

"From the empyrean heaven, the blest abode
Of saints in bliss, of angels, and of God,

Most distant sure is hell."

And yet nothing is more certain from the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, than that heaven and hell are so near that people can see and converse with each other across the gulf which separates them. But on this point I shall leave my readers as I found them; and having merely stated the different opinions that have been entertained by the learned, pass lastly to speak of the magnitude of hell.

Concerning this there can be little ground for dispute among orthodox christians. If the size of

a place may be judged from the number of those who are to occupy it, no one can hesitate to believe that hell is one of the largest and most important parts of the universe. Milton denominates it "a universe of death," and represents it as vast beyond all that "an angel's ken" can comprehend. Modern divines, as I have before remarked, significantly call it a "world of wo." The Jewisha Rbbins tell us that hell is so large that it would take a man three hundred years to pass through it. All this is sufficiently indefinite, it must be confessed, and yet it is all well calculated to give us a notion of its vastness.

But all these are questions of mere curiosity compared with what relates to the nature of hell and the kinds and degrees of punishment there inflicted. And here I must say that all the powers of human language and imagination have been exhausted in setting forth the multiplied torments and horrors of that "world of wo," that "universe of death." I shall therefore devote to this part of my subject an entire chapter.

CHAPTER II.

OF HELL'S HORRORS.

This, I need not remark, is a very important chapter-important both to those who receive the dogma of endless punishment, and those who re

ject it. The former must rely upon the horrors of hell to give weight and moral power to their favorite doctrines, while the latter can hardly fail to find in those horrors a most convincing proof of its falsehood and absurdity. And it is a curious fact, deserving the attention of both friends and foes, that just in proportion as hell's horrors are heightened, must they appear the more absurd and impossible. Hence it happens that in the present age, and especially in this country, those who most effectually preach the endless torments of hell, may justly be regarded as those who are also doing most to bring the doctrine into disrepute. I am thoroughly persuaded that nothing. would so soon and so effectually destroy all faith in endless punishment, as particular and terrific descriptions of its torments. It is much to be regretted, therefore, that the advocates of that doctrine should be so exceedingly cautious in exhibiting its true character, and most of all that they should so generally shun all descriptions of the various miseries of the popular hell. Formerly it was not so. Formerly orthodox divines did not hesitate to pronounce the name of hell in " ears polite," nor to portray its horrors in the most vivid manner. But among the other improvements of the age, hell itself seems to be undergoing some modifications. It is growing more tolerable every year. What the end of this is to be, I need not foretell. It requires no spirit of prophecy to