Daily national Democrat., 1861-03-27
Where is hell Located

We do not know that any Of our reader,
are very much interested in the inquiry pro-
posed, but there was time in the history OF
the world when vast tones were written W
m the subject and learned divines exhausted
argument and research in determining it
They came to the conclusion that hell was
located in the center of the EARTH and that
the volcanic peaks of Vesuvius Hecla and
the Ike were the mere vents to the smoke
and FIRE Of the Internal hole in other words,
the chimneys Of hell One Of the divine,
said it was "a corporeal tire-tow." Another,
Whatsoever philosophers write, there be
certain mouths of hell, and places appointed
for the punishment of mems sous, as at Hecla
in Iceland. where the ghosts of dead men are
familiarly seen and sometimes talk with the
Hvirg. st. Gregory and other theological
writers of his period, contended that 1t was
certainly proven Of Mount Etna in Sicily and
Lipari in the Mediterranean, that screeches
and howlings were heard around the craters
and fiery chariots were seen to wheel into the
smoke laden with the souls of bad men in the
shape of crows and, as for devils, they We're
seen TO 60 in and out continually. No won
der people were afraid of he'll, those days,
when the moment that the soul ola bad man
departed it went head-foremost down one of
those red-hot hues right into the middle of
the lake of frel They went so far to
make maps Of the Internal regions, relying
upon we know not what authority for their
information. One of them said hell was two
hundred Italian miles in diameter Another
that it was only one Dutch mile in diameter
entirely filled with fire and birthstone. But
this measurement was based on a hypothesis
which shows that that space "cubically mu
tplied, will make sphere able to hold eight
hundred millions Of damned bodies. allowing
ench body six foot square" which, says the
learned authority, "wil abundanty suffice.
We should .hiuk so
Now-a-days, the received opinion seems tC
be that there is no such material place a
hell, either inside the earth or ont of it, bu
is metaphorical, symbol simply of that ex
quiste torment which is to follow the unfor
given wicked through eternity. 1t is mental
agony, remorse, etc But it is curious to
observe with what unanimity the Jews and
Pagans, first, and afterwards the Christians
agreed that he'll was in the center of the
earth The Greeks and those who accepted
their mythology located he'll, as we have
said in the earths center, but they 10 Gated
heaven there, too, Immediately adjoining -
He'll they called Tartarus and heaven Ely.
sum- All the bad went to Tartarus and al
the good went to Elysium. Phlegethor
rolled through Tartarus stream of fire bu
| in Elysium the coolest of fountains wer,
playing The one was rather bad climate
to live in. the other was ust the reverse
quite healthy and agreeable The Hindoos
if we remember rgtly, have no particula
locality for torment hereafter, considering fu
ture existence in its entirety an undesil abl
thing so much so that they fast and pra.
and practice all kinds of asceticism, in life, il
order to escape an individual future ext.
tence. The highest good they desire is that
when they die, they may mngle their spirit
ual essence with the elements of the earth ant
loose their identity in the general life aroun,
them. At any rate, such are the notions Q
certain sects Of the Hindoo faith. They be
lieve in about three hundred aud thirty mil
lions of gods, of diverse dispositions and al
having more or less power over the spiritua
man in the future and no wonder they ar
willing to part with their individual identity
The North American Indians locate their hel
(Which is simply a big desert where few
roots grow and there is no game) sometime
in one quarter and sometimes in another, al
happens to suit their prophets. These proph'
cts are for the most part sincere, fasting unit
| the mind becomes fit to see visions which are
to them reality.
We had good deal more to say on thi,
highly attractive subject, but the boat has
arrived, and we must dive into our eXchang-
cs. If there is such place AS hell, doubles
some of our readers will find it. ere the laps,
of a hundred years from this date.