Of the final state of the wicked in
hell
John Gill
When the judgment is finished,
and the sentence pronounced, the wicked will go into "everlasting punishment",
#Mt 25:46. What that punishment will be, and the duration of it, are the things
to be considered. With respect to the punishment itself, I
shall,
1. First, prove that there
will be a state of punishment of wicked men in the future world. There is a
punishment of the wicked in their souls, which takes place at death; as appears
from the parable of the rich man, #Lu 16:23 and there is a punishment
of them in soul and body, after the resurrection, and the last judgment, see
#Re 20:12,15 which latter is the continuation and perfection of the former. And
this will appear,
1a1. From the
light of nature among the heathens; being owned and
spoken
of, not only by their poets, but by their philosophers,
and those the
more wise, grave, and serious among them. The
poets,
indeed, say many fabulous things of Pluto, the king of
hell; of
Rhadamanthus, and others as judges there; of Charon
the ferry
man, and of the infernal rivers; yet under these
fables
some truth lies disguised; nay, Tertullian {1},
charges the
heathens with borrowing these things from the
sacred
writings;
``When we speak of God as a
Judge, and threaten men with hell fire, we are laughed at;
but, says he, the poets and the philosophers erect a tribunal in hell, and
speak of a river of fire there: from whence, says he, I beseech you, have they
such like things, but from our mysteries?''
But not the
poets only, but the more serious and wiser sort
of
the heathens, believed these things. Caesar was reproved
by Cato, for
deriding punishments after death; as if there
were neither
joys nor torments beyond it, but that that puts
an end to all
{2}. Many of the philosophers {3} wrote of
things done
in "hades", or hell; and Plato {4} denies that
death
is the last thing; but that the punishments of hell
are the last;
and says all the same things the poets do;
yea, declares
them to be rational, and not fables {5}: hence
Arnobius {6},
an ancient defender of the Christians against
the heathens,
says,
``Dare ye deride us when we
speak of hell, and of unquenchable fire, into which we know souls are cast?
Does not your Plato say the same, in his book of the immortality of the soul?
Does he not make mention of the rivers Acheron, Styx, Cocytus, and Periphlegeton,
in which he asserts souls are rolled, plunged, and burnt?''
Epicurus
thought the punishment of held to be a poetical
figment. So
Horace, who was an Epicurean, says {7}, "Mors
ultima linea
rerum est", death is the last line of things.
But
Zeno the Stoic believed and taught, that the godly and
ungodly will
have different habitations; the one delightful,
and the other
uncomfortable {8}. Indeed, some of the Stoic
philosophers
{9} derided these things; but then it is
thought they
only meant the fables of the poets about them,
since
their founder, as now observed, believed and taught
them.
Hierocles, a Pythagorean and Platonic philosopher,
speaks of en
adou kolasthria, "punishments in hell" {10}.
1a2. A state
of punishment hereafter, appears from the
impressions
of guilt and wrath on the consciences of men
now, for sins
committed, being struck with the fear of future
judgment, and
of punishment that shall follow; and which are
observable in
heathens themselves, whose consciences accuse,
or excuse,
one another; hence, as Cicero says {11},
``Every man's sins distress
him; their evil thoughts and consciences terrify them; these, to the ungodly,
are their daily and domestic furies, which haunt them day and night.''
Such
may be observed in Cain, Pharaoh, Judas, and other
wicked
persons; in whom there was nothing but a fearful
looking for
of fiery indignation, which shall consume them
in hell. And
these are emblems, earnests, presages, and
pledges of
wrath to come. Yea, there is sometimes, some
things
in good men which bear a resemblance to this; and
while they
are under the sense of them, apprehend themselves
as in a
condition similar to it; as David, Heman the
Ezrahite, and
Jonah, #Ps 116:3 88:6,7,15,16 Jon 2:2.
1a3.
This may be argued from the justice of God. If there is a
God, he must
be believed to be just; and if there is a just
God, there
must be a future state of punishment; and,
indeed, the
disbelief of these commonly go together. It is
certain there
is a God; and it is as certain that God is
righteous
in all his ways, and holy in all his works; and
will render
to every man according to his works. Now it is
certain, that
justice does not take place, or is not so
manifestly
displayed in this world; it seems, therefore, but
just and
reasonable, that there should be a change of things
in
a future state, when the saints will be comforted, and
the wicked
tormented: it is but a righteous thing with God
to render
tribulation to wicked men hereafter, who have had
their flow of
worldly happiness, and abused it. God is a God
of vengeance,
and he will show it, and it is proper he
1a4. This is
abundantly evident from divine revelation, from the
books both of
the Old and the New Testament. David says,
"The wicked
shall be turned into hell", #Ps 9:17. And our
Lord
speaks of some sins which make men in danger of
hell fire,
and of the whole body being cast into hell for
them; and of
both body and soul being destroyed in hell,
#Mt
5:22,29,30 10:28. But these, and such like passages,
will be
considered hereafter.
1a5. This may
be further confirmed, from the examples of persons
that already
endure this punishment, at least in part; as
the fallen
angels, who, when they had sinned, were cast down
from heaven,
where was the first abode of them, to Tartarus, or
hell,
a place of darkness, where they are delivered into
chains of
darkness, and held by them; and though they may
not be in
full torments, yet they are not without them, and
are reserved
unto judgment, which, when over, they will be
cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone, #2Pe 2:4 Re 20:10.
Another
instance is, the men of the old world, who, by their
sins, brought
a flood upon it; and not only their bodies
were
destroyed by the flood, but the spirits, or souls of
these men,
who were disobedient in the times of Noah, were
laid up
"in prison", that is, in the prison of hell, where
they
were when the apostle Peter wrote his epistle,
#1Pe 3:19,20
these are, by some, thought to be meant by "the
congregation
of the Rephaim", of the giants, in #Pr 21:16.
The men of
Sodom and Gomorrah, had not only their bodies and
their
substance burnt, in the conflagration of their cities;
but
their souls also are now suffering the vengeance of
eternal fire,
#Jude 1:7. So Korah and his company, not only
went down
alive into the pit of the earth, that opening and
closing upon
them, but perished in their souls; since wicked
men are said
to "perish, in the gainsaying of Korah", for
the
same sins, and in like manner, though not temporally and
corporally;
but in soul, and eternally, #Jude 1:11. The case
of the wicked
rich man, who lift up his eyes in hell, being
in torment
there, though it be a parable, relates to a fact,
and
ascertains the truth of it, and which yet some take to
1b. Secondly, I shall next
consider the names, words, and phrases, by which the place and state of future
punishment are expressed; which will still give a further proof of it, and lead
more into the nature of it.
1b1. First,
the names of the place; I call it a place, and not a
state only;
though some speak of it only as such; but the
scriptures
make mention of it as a "place of torment",
#Lu 16:28 and
Judas is said to "go to his own place",
#Ac
1:25 to which he was appointed, being the Son of
perdition:
and a place seems necessary, especially for bodies,
as after the
resurrection; though where it is, or will be, is
hard to say:
some make it to be the air; others the body of the
sun; some the
fixed stars; others the earth, either the centre,
or
the cavities of it, or under it; since the heaven is
represented
as high, and this as low; and sometimes called
hell beneath,
#Job 11:8 Pr 15:14 Isa 14:9. But it should not
be so much our
concern to know where it is, as how to escape
it, and that
we come not into this place of torment,
1b1a. It is
called destruction, or Abaddon, which is the name of
the king of
the bottomless pit, #Re 9:11 which signifies a
destroyer, and
is rendered destruction in #Job 26:6 Pr 27:20
#Pr
15:11 where "hell and destruction" are mentioned
together, as
signifying the same thing, the one being
explanative
of the other. Indeed the grave, which the word used
for hell
sometimes signifies, is called the pit of destruction
and
corruption, because bodies laid in it corrupt and waste
away;
but here it seems to signify the place of the
punishment of
the wicked, where body and soul are destroyed
with an
everlasting destruction; which is not to be
understood of
an extinction of soul and body, as by the
Epicureans
and Socinians {12}; for this is contrary both to
the
immortality of the soul which cannot be killed, and to
the
resurrection of the body, which, though it rises to
damnation and
everlasting contempt, yet dies not again; and
to what
purpose should it be raised, if it becomes
immediately
extinct? hell, or a state of punishment, follows
upon
death, and the resurrection, and is connected with
them; it
follows upon the death of the body; the rich man
died, with
respect to his body, and in hell he lift up his
eyes; that
is, he found his soul in torment, and therefore
not extinct.
And when the body is raised and united to the
soul,
and has passed the general judgment, and received its
sentence,
both will go into everlasting punishment; and
therefore
neither of them extinct. Besides, there would
otherwise be
no meaning in those words of Christ, "It had
been good for
that man if he had never been born", #Mt 26:24
since
for a man to be extinct, or to be in a state of
nonexistence,
and not to be born, are the same; at least,
if a man is
extinct, it is as if he had never been born; and
therefore no
comparison can be made between them; nor better
nor worse be
said of them. But when hell, or the punishment
of
the wicked in it, is called destruction, it does not mean
a destruction
of the being of a person, but of all happiness
to him; he is
deprived of all, both in soul and body; no
light of joy;
but darkness, horror, and distress; nothing
but
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.
1b1b. Another
name or word by which it is expressed, is Sheol,
which is
often rendered the "grave"; as in #Ge 42:38 44:31
and should be
where it is sometimes translated "hell", as in
#Ps 16:10 yet
in some places it seems as if it could not be
understood
of that, but of the state or place of punishment
of the
wicked; as in #Ps 9:17. "The wicked shall be turned
into
hell": now to be turned into the earth, or to be laid
in the grave,
is not peculiar to wicked men; it is the
common lot of
all, good and bad; it is the house appointed
for
all living, #Job 30:23 but to be enveloped with all
darkness, and
consumed in a fire, not blown, and an horrible
tempest
rained on them, is the peculiar portion of wicked
men from God,
#Job 20:26,29 Ps 11:6. Besides, the phrase
being
"turned" into it, denotes indignation, contempt, and
shame;
and is the same with the New Testament phrase, so
often used,
of being "cast into hell", #Mt 5:29,30 8:12 so
when this
word is used of the adulterous woman, and her
ways, that
her steps take hold of hell, and her house is the
way to it;
and that her guests are in the depths of it,
#Pr
5:5 7:27 9:18 to understand it of the grave, seems not
to be strong
enough, and to give too low a sense of it; and does
not
sufficiently express the danger persons are in through
her; and into
which they are brought: as well as it is not
ascribing
enough to the way of life, above to the wise, that
it
secures a person from the grave beneath; and which yet it
does not; but
rather that it delivers him from the punishment
of hell, #Pr
15:24 in like manner, when it is said of
hardened and
desperate sinners, that they with hell are at
an agreement;
they seem to outbrave, deride, and bid
defiance
to more than death and the grave; even to mock at
hell, and its
torments they give no credit to. It has its
name,
"Sheol", from lav because it asks and has, and is
never satisfied;
and applied, whether to the grave or hell,
denotes the
insatiableness thereof, #Pr 27:20 30:16
1b1c. Another
name for hell is "Tophet"; which was a place in the
valley of the
son of Hinnom, where the Israelites burnt
their sons
and their daughters in the fire, sacrificing them
to
Molech; and that the cries of the infants might not be
heard, to
affect their parents, drums or tabrets were beat
upon during
the time; and from hence the place had the name
of Tophet,
"Toph" signifying a drum, or tabret; see
#Jer 7:31,32
and this seems to be used of the place and
state
of the punishment of the wicked; "Tophet is ordained of
old",
&c. #Isa 30:33 which the Targum interprets of hell,
prepared from
ages past for the sins of men; and which words,
Calvin on the
text, understands of the miserable condition, and
extreme
torments and punishments of the wicked; and, indeed,
they
seem fitly to describe them: "Tophet was ordained of
old", as
hell is from eternity; and is that condemnation
wicked men
were of old ordained unto: it was "prepared for
the
king"; so everlasting fire is prepared for the devil and
his angels,
for the prince of devils, and all his subjects:
it
is made "deep and large"; so hell is the bottomless pit
large enough
to hold the whole posse of devils, and all the
wicked, from
the beginning to the end of the world. The
"pile",
the fuel, for the fire, is much "wood", wicked men,
comparable to
thorns and briers, straw and stubble, withered
branches
of vines, and dry trees; a fire "kindled", and
blown up by
"the breath of the Lord", at whose blast, and
the breath of
his nostrils, men perish and are consumed; a
fire, not
blown by men, but by the breath of the Almighty;
"like a
stream of brimstone", such as destroyed the cities
1b1d. From
Gehinnon, the valley of Hinnom, where Tophet was, is
the word used
in the New Testament, geena {13},
#Mt
5:22,29,30 Mr 9:43,45,47 for the fire of hell; there, as
just
observed, children were burnt with fire, and sacrificed to
Molech; which
horrid custom the Israelites borrowed from
their
neighbours the Canaanites, or Phoenicians; and who
carried it
into their several colonies, and particularly to
Carthage;
where, as Diodorus Siculus relates {14}, 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 ditch,
full of fire; a fit emblem of the fire of hell,
often called
in scripture a "lake of fire".
1b1e.
Sometimes this place is called the deep abyss, or
bottomless
pit: the devils, when they came out of the man,
in whom was a
legion, besought Christ that he would not
order them to
go "into the deep", which seems to be their
place
of full torment, since they deprecated going into it,
#Lu 8:31 and
is the same with the bottomless pit Abaddon is
king of, and
into which Satan, when bound, will be cast,
#Re 9:1,11
20:3.
1b1f.
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 {15}, 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 #Re 1:8 20:13,14 but it
cannot be so
understood in #Lu 16:23 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 eyes"; which can never be
meant of the
grave; it is spoken of as distinct 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 #Mt 16:18 must mean
something
else, and not the gates of the grave.
1b1g. Another
word by which it is expressed, is "Tartarus"; and
this also but
in one place, and comprehended in a verb there
used, #2Pe
2:4. "God spared not the angels that sinned";
but,
tartarwsav, "cast them down to tartarus", 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
does 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 from heaven {16}:
and, indeed,
the story of the Titans seems to be hammered
out of the
scriptural account of the fallen angels; and so
Plato
{17} 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 {18}. 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 "fall", to subside, to
go to the
bottom {19}, as being a low, inferior place; hence
called
"hell from beneath".
1b2.
Secondly, 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 nature of it. And,
1b2a. 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, are
expressly said to "be in prison", #2Pe 1:4
#1Pe 3:19,20.
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,
#Mt 5:26. So
Plato {20} speaks of Tartarus as a prison of
just
punishment; for those who have lived unrighteously and
1b2b. It is
spoken of as a state of darkness, "of blackness of
darkness",
#Jude 1:13 of the grossest, thickest darkness
that can be
conceived of; of "outer darkness", #Mt 8:12
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.
1b2c. It is
set forth by "fire", #Mt 5:21 than which nothing
gives
more pain, nor is more excruciating; by a "furnace of
fire",
#Mt 13:42,50 like that which Nebuchadnezzar 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 nothing can be conceived of more dreadful;
and
by "a lake of fire", and of "brimstone" also, which
enrages the
fire, and increases the strength of it,
#Re 20:10,15
21:8 in allusion to the sulphureous lake
Asphalrites,
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.
1b2d. It is
expressed by a "worm that never dies",
#Mr
9:44,46,48 Isa 66:24 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,
#Ac 12:23 but
what is this to the continual gnawings of
a guilty
conscience; that "stimulus perpetuae conscientiae",
that sting of
a perpetual conscience; or that perpetual sting
of conscience
Charite threatened Thrasyllus {21} with? 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 {22} as fast as eaten.
1b2e.
This is what is called the second death, #Re 21:8 of which
good men
shall not be hurt, and on whom it shall have no
power, #Re
2:11 20:6 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 dying, yet never die.
1b2f. 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, as 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.
1b2g. 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 various words
and phrases
before observed; and in a sense of which the
future
punishment of the wicked will greatly lie; as will
1c. Thirdly, the species and
sorts of that punishment; or the parts of which it consists, and wherein it
lies: it is usually distinguished into "poena damni", punishment of
loss; and "poena 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 1:7. But to proceed,
1c1. First,
there is the punishment of loss, which will consist
of a
privation of all good things. And,
1c1a. 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 from the presence of the Lord"; a
great part of
that destruction will lie in an eternal
separation
from it; it will be dreadful to them, as it was
an
aggravation of the punishment of Cain, and made it
intolerable
to him, though a wicked man; "From thy face
shall I be
hid!" so to be everlastingly banished from God,
without any
hope of his favour, will be dreadful: the words
of an ancient
writer {23} 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.''
1c1b. 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", #Mt 7:23 25:41
#Lu 13:27.
1c1c. Of the
grace, peace, and joy of the Holy Ghost, of which
they are
destitute 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 case, nor peace, day and night,
#Re 14:11.
1c1d. 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 lips, and yet he not able to quench his
thirst
with the one, nor to satisfy his hunger with the
other {24}:
yea, they will not have the least pity shown
them by God,
angels or men; God will mock at their
destruction;
angels will applaud his righteous judgment; and
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.
1c1e. Of the
kingdom of heaven, from whence they will be
excluded,
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.
1c2.
Secondly, there is the punishment of sense, and which will
lie
both in body and soul; for both will be destroyed in
hell, and be
sensible of the fire of it.
1c2a. The
body: hence we often read of the whole body, and of the
various
members of it with it, being cast into hell,
#Mt
5:29,30 Mr 9:43,45,47 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 punishment 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 consumed 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"
{25}, unquenchable: and there is a sort of fly,
called
"pyrausta" {26}, or the firefly, 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
lightning, or
fire from heaven, which sometimes will scorch
and burn, and
yet not consume and destroy bodies, or reduce
them to
ashes; as in the case of Nadab and Abihu: but this is
not
very material to determine; since,
1c2b. The
soul will be filled with a sense of wrath, which will
be poured
forth on the wicked, and burn like fire, #Ps 79:5
#Na 1:6 this
is the fiery indignation which shall consume
the
adversaries of God and Christ in hell, #Heb 10:27 that
indignation
and wrath, tribulation and anguish, which will
come upon
every soul of man that does evil, #Ro 2:8,9 that
fire which
the breath of the Lord, like a stream of
brimstone,
will kindle, #Isa 30:33 and which the body, by
its
near conjunction with the soul, will feel the effects
of.
1d. Fourthly, the degrees of
this punishment; for it seems such there will be, since wicked men will be judged,
and so punished, according to their evil works, whether more
or fewer, greater or lesser. But then these cannot be understood of the
punishment of loss; one cannot lose more nor less than another; all are equally
excluded from the presence and communion of God and of Christ, and of the
Spirit; and from the company of angels and saints, and from the kingdom of
heaven and the glories of it: but can only be said of the punishment of sense;
some are lesser sinners and others greater; some are only
guilty of original sin, and not of actual transgressions, at least of very few,
and so are deserving of a milder punishment only, as before observed; and of
actual transgressions some are guilty of more, and of more heinous ones; see
#Joh 19:11 and their guilt and punishment are in proportion to them; some are
attended with greater aggravations, and so are deserving of
a greater punishment; some are done in ignorance, and others against light and
knowledge; one knows his master's will and does it not, and so deserves to be
beaten with many stripes; and another knows it not, and yet does things worthy
of stripes, and therefore to be beaten with few stripes, #Lu 12:47. Some have
had the advantage of a written law, the law of Moses, as the Jews had, and this
explained with the sanctions of it; when others, as the
Gentiles, had only the light of nature and the law of it to guide them; and as
both will be judged according to their different laws, so will they be punished
in a different manner, #Ro 2:12. Some have had the advantage of a preached
gospel, and have despised it, and have been disobedient to it, which is an
aggravation of their condemnation; so that it will be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for them, #Mt
11:20,21. The scribes and Pharisees who, against the clearest evidence, and the
conviction of their own consciences, denied that Jesus was the Messiah, and
blasphemed his miracles, which were proofs of it; and under a pretence of
religion devoured widows' houses, justly receive the greater damnation, #Mt
12:25-32 23:14 and those who have treated contumeliously
the great doctrines of the gospel, respecting the person and blood of Christ,
and the grace of the Spirit of Christ; of how much sorer punishment shall they
be thought worthy, than those who have only broken the law of Moses? #Heb
10:28,29 2Th 1:9 1Pe 4:17. Some have been favoured with greater mercies in
providence than others, and have abused them, and despised
the goodness of God extended to them, and so have treasured up more wrath
against the day of wrath; and having their good things here, will have their
evil ones hereafter, with redoubled vengeance, #Ro 2:4,5 Lu 16:25.
2. What remains to be
considered is, the duration of the punishment of the wicked in hell.
It will always continue and never have an end, and is therefore called
"everlasting punishment", and "everlasting destruction",
#Mt 25:46 2Th 1:9 and this will admit of proof both from reason and revelation,
from the light of nature, and from the sure word of prophecy. The heathens had
not only knowledge of the future punishment of the wicked in hell, but of the
eternal duration of it. Lucretius, the Epicurean
philosopher, though he disbelieved it, bears a full testimony to the truth of
it, even while he derides it; he wrote many years before the coming of Christ,
so that what he says could not be derived from the writings of the New
Testament, but from a more ancient tradition handed down among the Gentiles
time immemorial; he says {27}, that the fears of "eternal" punishment
after death, and as what would never have an end, were the
cause of all the troubles and miseries of human life; under the bondage of
which men lay oppressed, until Epicurus, a man of Greece, rose up, and
delivered men from those fears and fancies; so that, according to him, till the
times of Epicurus, who lived more than two hundred years before Christ, this
sentiment had always obtained among the heathens. And from
the sacred scriptures the eternity of future punishment is abundantly evident;
as,
2a. From the punishment of the
inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were made an ensample to those that
after should live ungodly; the destruction of those cities
was an emblem of eternal punishment: they agree in the efficient cause of them,
God; in the instruments, angels; in the matter and manner of the destruction,
by fire and brimstone; in circumstances, suddenly, at an unawares; and in the
nature of it, irreparable, and in a sense eternal; for those cities were
reduced to such a state, as that they will not, nor can be restored again, and
so a fit type of the everlasting punishment of sinners in
hell; but more than this, the inhabitants of those cities are now
"suffering the vengeance of eternal fire", #Jude 1:7 they are not
only now suffering the vengeance, but the vengeance is eternal, and expressed
by fire that is everlasting.
2b. From
the sense and fears of sinners in Zion, expressed in #Isa 33:14. "The
sinners in Zion are afraid; who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
the Targum interprets this of the everlasting burnings of hell; and many
Christian interpreters {28}, of the wrath of God, and the tortures of a guilty
conscience there; which are represented as what will endure for ever, and as
intolerable; the desert which those sinners were conscious
of, and that the outward form of religion would not deliver from them.
2c. From the resurrection of
the dead, and the issue of it, as described in #Da 12:2. "Some of whom
awake to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt": this twofold resurrection is called, the one "the resurrection
of life"; the other "the resurrection of damnation", #Joh 5:29
and as the life some are raised to is everlasting life, the damnation that
follows the resurrection of the other, must be everlasting damnation; here
called, "everlasting contempt"; for such will be had in contempt for
ever, by God, the holy angels, and good men: the word "everlasting" must have the same sense, and denote the same duration, with
respect to the one as to the other.
2d. From the sentence
pronounced on the wicked, #Mt 25:41 to depart into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels: if the punishment of the devil and
his angels will endure for ever, and have no end, then the punishment of the wicked
will also endure for ever, without end, since the same punishment is prepared
for the one as for the other; and which is here expressed by "everlasting
fire"; and as elsewhere by "unquenchable fire", by "fire
that never shall be quenched", #Mt 3:12 Mr 9:45 by "smoke of fire and
torments, that ascendeth up for ever and ever", #Re
14:11 and by "blackness of darkness reserved for ever", #Jude 1:13.
2e. From the execution of the
sentence, #Mt 25:46. "These shall go away into everlasting
punishment"; as the happiness of the saints in heaven is everlasting, and there is no reason to believe it ever will have an end; so the
punishment of the wicked in hell will be everlasting, and without end: the same
word here rendered "everlasting", is frequently used of the future
life and happiness of the saints, #Joh 6:40,47,54 yea, it is used of it in this
passage; for it follows, "but the righteous into life eternal": now
no reason can be given why the word in the one clause, which is the same, should be understood of an eternal duration, and in
the other of a limited one. Besides, the opposition of the two states of the
respective persons requires, that it should be understood in the same sense,
and as of equal extent.
2f. From the immortality of
the soul. The soul of man, of every man, is immortal, and
cannot die, or become extinct, as has been abundantly proved; if therefore it
is immortal, and lives for ever, it must be for ever either happy or miserable;
the souls of the righteous being immortal, shall be for ever happy; and the
souls of the wicked, being so likewise, shall be always miserable: he that is
unjust and filthy now, will be after death unjust and filthy still, and ever
remain so, and therefore always unhappy and miserable, #Re
22:11.
2g. From the parts of future
punishment; the punishment of loss, and the punishment of sense. The loss of
all good sustained will be irretrievable; and the sense of pain and torment
will be constant, and without intermission; there will be no
rest day nor night; the soul being immortal, the worm of conscience "dieth
not", but will be always gnawing, stinging, accusing, and upbraiding, and
therefore the punishment will always endure.
2h. From an incapacity of ever
being relieved, through the use of means, the ministry of
the word; or by a being brought to repentance; or by having sin pardoned, and
satisfaction made for it; all which will be out of the question: the ministry
of the word of peace and reconciliation will be no more; the door of the gospel
will be shut; no place will be found for repentance; men will blaspheme God
because of their pains, but not repent of their sins; there will be no
remission of sin in the world to come; nor satisfaction to
be made for sins; sinners cannot satisfy for them themselves by all that they
endure; and there will be none to satisfy for them, for there will be no more
offering for sin.
2i. From the impossibility of
an escape, or a remove out of it. The place of torment is bounded
by a great gulf, so that there is no passing from that to a state of happiness;
which gulf is no other than the eternal and immutable decree of God, which can
never be disannulled, but will remain fixed and unalterable. The heathens
themselves represent Hades and Tartarus, by which they mean the same as hell,
as so closely locked and shut up, that there is no return from thence {29}; and
as strongly fortified with iron towers and gates, with
walls and adamantine pillars {30}, as impregnable, and never to be broke
through.
2j. From the perfections of
God: the veracity of God makes eternal punishment for sin necessary. He has
threatened sin, the breach of his law, with eternal death; for such
is the demerit of it; and his truth and faithfulness are engaged to fulfil the
threatening, unless a compensation is made for sin committed. "Let God be
true, and every man a liar!" The justice of God also requires it; not to
punish sin, would not be doing justice to himself, and to the glory of his
Majesty; it would be a denying himself, a concealing his perfections, and suffering
his supreme authority over his creatures to be subject to
contempt; his justice, and the honour of it, make it necessary that sin should
be punished, either in the sinner, or in a surety for him: wherefore no
satisfaction being made to justice, nor can there be any made in a future
state, the punishment must continue for ever. It is pretended by some, as if it
was contrary to the justice of God, that a transient, temporary action, as sin
is, should be everlastingly punished. To which it may be
replied, that though sin, as an action, is a transient one, yet the evil, the
guilt, the demerit of sin continue, unless purged by the blood of Christ, and
atoned for by his sacrifice. Besides, sin is continued to be committed in a
future state, though not the same sorts of sins, some of them, as murders,
adulteries, &c. yet blasphemy, malice, envy, and the like {31}; and therefore as they continue to be committed, it is but just
that the wrath of God should remain upon them: moreover, though sin is a finite
action, as an action, for nothing else can be done by a finite creature; yet it
is, objectively, infinite, as committed against an infinite Being; and
therefore is justly punished with the loss of an infinite good. And as the
demerit of sin, as to the punishment of sense, cannot be inflicted
"intensively" on a finite creature, that not being able to bear it;
it is inflicted "extensively"; or is continued, "ad
infinitum", for ever. Nor is this contrary to the mercy and goodness of
God; God is just, as well as merciful and good: and these attributes are not to
be opposed to one another; justice must be satisfied, as well as grace, mercy,
and goodness displayed; and besides, the displays of those,
or the actings thereof, are according to the sovereign will and pleasure of
God; and when men have despised his goodness in providence, and his grace and
mercy held forth in the gospel, and in salvation by Christ; it can be no
reproach to his mercy and goodness thus despised, to punish such with
everlasting destruction, #2Th 1:9.
{1} Apolog. c. 47.
{2} Sallust, de Bell. Catilin.
p. 28, 31.
{3} Heraclides Ponticus,
Antisthenes, Democritus & Protagoras, vid. Laert. in eorum Vitis.
{4} De
Legibus, l. 9. p. 948. & l. 12. p. 994. & in Phaedone, p. 83, 84. in
Axiocho, p. 1308.
{5} In Gorgia, p. 356.
{6} Adv. Gentes, l. 2. p. 67.
{7} Epist. l. 1. ep. 16. v.
79.
{8}
Lactant. Institut. l. 7. c. 7.
{9} Senecae. Consolat. ad
Marciam, c. 19. Arrian Epictet. l. 3. c. 13.
{10} In Carmin. Pythagor. p.
165.
{11} Orat. 2. pro Roscio.
{12} Vid. Socin. in 1 ep.
Johan. 2. 17. Oper. tom. 1. p. 178, & Resp. alter ad Volanum,
tom. 9. p. 392.
{13} Of some absurd
derivations of this word, vid. Ruscam de inferno, l. 1. c. 7. p. 22.
{14} Biblioth. l. 20. p. 756.
{15} Vid. Sandford. de
descensu Christi, l. 1. s. 6. p. 8. & s. 25. p. 44.
{16}
Apollodorus de Deor. Orig. l. 1. p. 2. 4. Phurnutus de Nat. Deor. p. 11. 39.
riqo ev tartaron heroenta, Homer. Iliad. 8. v. 13. Tartaro tenebricoso Ilygin.
fab. 146. vid. fab. 150.
{17} In Phaedone, p. 84.
{18} In Gorgia, p. 357. vid.
Virgil. Aeneid. 6. v. 540, &c. Socrates apud Plutarch. de Consol.
ad Apoll. p. 121.
{19} "Tartari vox
Etymologo a tarassw deducitur----mihi origo Chaldaica, multo magis arridet, a
themate, nempe ddrd decidit, quo sensu Tartarus pro eo quod subsidit et fundum
petit, accipitur." Windet. de vita functorum statu, p. 87.
{20} In Gorgia, p. 356. &
Socrates apud Plutarch. de Consol. ad Apoll. p. 121.
{21}
Apulei Metamorph. l. 8. p. 114.
{22} Apollodorus de Deor.
Orig. p. 10. Hygin. fab. 55.
{23} Chrysostom. Homil. 47. ad
pop. Antioch.
{24} "Quaerit aquas et
poma fugacia captat Tantalus: hoc illi. garrula lingua dedit", Ovid. Amor.
eleg. 1. v. 43. Hygin. fab. 82.
{25} Plin.
Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 1. & l. 37. c. 10. Strabo, l. 10. p. 307. Pancirol.
rer. memorab. & Salmuth. in ibid. p. 16. vid. Philosoph. Transact.
abridged, vol. 2. p. 552, &c. and vol. 4. par. 2. p. 282.
{26} Plin. l. 11. c. 36. vid.
Philosoph. Transact. vol. 7. par. 2. p. 147.
{27} "Aeternas quoniam
poenas in morte timendum", Lucret. de Rerum Natura, l. 1.
{28} "Supplicia hujus
vitae temporaria non explent emphasin phrasios, ignis consumentis et focorum
aeternorum", Vitringa in loc.
{29} Pausaniae Eliac. sive l.
5. p. 325. Plato in Phaedone, p. 84.
{30} Homer. Iliad. 8. v. 15.
Virgil. Aeneid. 6. v. 548, &c.
{31} It is
indeed denied by some that there is any sinning in hell, see Sandford vel
Parker de descensu Christi, l. 3. s. 96. p. 174, 175. Maccov. Theolog. Polemic.
c. 23. qu. 26. though allowed by him in Distinct. Theolog. c. 22. s. 5. and is
asserted by divines in general, as by Ames. Medulla, l. 1. c. 16. s. 10, 11.
Heidegger. Corpus Theolog. loc. 28. s. 113, et alii.