, 1890-08-21


was LOCATED under the earth.
In the middle ages the Christian
conception of hell became more de-
tailed and more terrible. The de
tails can be found not only In the
books of the period, but they wert
favorite subjects for miracle-plays
and for works of art, especially fol
the pictures, carvings and painted
windows with which cathedral,
were adorned. The monks of the
period produced an extensive litera
ture of visions describing the tor
ments of hell. In these visions, &C.
cordlng to Lecky-
POOR DEVIL!
The devil was represented bound
by red-hot chains ON burning grid
iron in the center of hell. The
screams of his never ending agony
made its rafters to resound; but his
hands were free, and with these he
seized the lost souls, crushed them
like grapes against his teeth, and
then drew them by his breath down
the fiery cavern of his throat.
Demons with hooks of red-hot
iron plunged the suffering souls
alternately into fire and ice.
Some of the lost were hung up by
their tongues, others were sawn
asunder, others gnawed by serpents,
others beaten together on an anvil
and welded into single mass,
others boiled and then strained
through II cloth, others twined in
the embraces of demons whose limbs
were of flame. The ire of earth, Ii
was said, was but picture of that
of hell. The latter was so immeas-
urably more intense that 1t alone
could be called real.
BY far the most elaborate descrlp-
ton of the punshments of sinners
which the middle ages produced
is that of Dante, whose Inferno
combines the torments of the classi-
cal Tartarus and the horrors of the
Christian hell. In this poem,
which was written about 1900,
the author represents himself as
being conducted through the Internal
regions by Virgil. Within the gates
of hell, but before crossing the river
Acheron, the visitors found those
who had lived "without infnmy or
praise" and angels who had been
neither faithful nor rebellious, but
only selfish. They "were naked,
and were stung exceedingly by gad
flies ana by hornets that were
there" Beyond Acheron were
found the great ones of old, whose
sin was lack of baptism. These
were "only SO far punished that
without hope we live on In desire" "
The reformers made little change
In the medieval conception of hell.
Calvin writes: "Forever harussed
by dreadful tempest, they shall
feel themselves torn asunder by an
angry God and transfiXed and pene-
trated by mortal stings, terrified by
the thunderbolts of God, and broken
by the weight of his hand, 30 that
to sink into any CULTS would be
more tolerable than to stand for "a
moment in these terrors."
The characteristic austerity of the
Puritans finds free scope In the de-
piction of hells torments. Their
great poet, Milton, describes the
place in the first and second books
of paradise Lost" Satan and his
host are cast into it "there to dwell
in adamantine chains and penal
fire."
A dungeon horrible. on all sides round.
AS one great furnace famed; yet from
those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Il, 81 -63).
JONATHAN EDWARDS.
The Puritans in America were no
less emphatic in their depictions of
hell than the parent stock in Eng
land. Many are the passages in the
sermons of that staunch New Eng
land divine, Jonathan Edwards,
devoted to setting forth the
ugonies of eternal punishment. The
following extract is typical not only
of Edwards, but also of his con-
temporaries:
Imagine yourself to be cast into
u fiery oven or great furnace,
where your pain would be as much
greater than that occasioned 10y nc.
cidentally touching coal of fire as
the heat is greater. Imagine also
that your nody were to lie there for
u quarter of an hour, full OF fire, and
all the while full of quick sense;
what horror would you feel mt the
entrance CT such II furnace! and how
long would that quarter of an hour
seem to you! And, after you had
endured 1t for neminute, how over.
bearing would II be to you to think
thut you had to endure 1t the other
fourteen! But what would be the
effect on your soul if you knew you
must lie there, enduring that tor
nnpf IN tha full fpr tWapt ~ f,nr
hours! And how much greater
would be the effect if you knew you
must endure IL for II whole year!
And how vastly greater still If you
knew you must endure 1t for a
thousand years! O, then, how
would your hearts sink If you knew
that you must bear it forever and
ever!-tnat there would he no end!
that after millions of millions of
ages your torment would be no near
er TO an end, and that you never.
never should be delivered! But
your torment in hell will be inn
greater than this illustra-
ton represents"
Christian preachers and writers
of the present time do not agree as
to the nature of hell's torments.
Many of them are coming to attach
II figuutlve meaning to the Biblical
description of hell and seem ns
loath us their predecessors were
eager to dwell upon the subject. In
the Fortnightly Review for Janu-
ary, 1876, Lionel A. Tollemache
says: "rhe wiser among us are
seeking to drop hell out of the