con- the "Sun 'it felf
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The learned Mr. Whifion has lately advanced a New Opinion. — ■According to h^m ,, the > Comets arc to be con- ceiv'd as fo many Hells, appointed, in the Courfe of their Trajectories, or Orbits, alternately to carry the Damned into the Confines of the Sun, there to' be jeorch'd by his Flames j and then return 'em to Starve in the cold, dreary, dark Regions^ beyond the Orb of Sahtrn. Sec Comet.
The Reverend and Orthodox Mr. T. Swinden, in an exprefs Inquiry into the Nature and 'Place of Hell, not contented with any of the Places hitherto afiign'd - tends for a new one. — According to him, is the Local Hell. Sec Sun.
This does not feem to be his own Difcovery : — "Tis probable he was led into the Opinion by that Paffage'in Rev. XVI. 8, 9.— Tho' it mull be added, that 'Pythagoras feems to have had the like View, in that he places Hell in the Sphere of Fire ; and that Sphere, in the middle of the Univerfc. : — Add, that Atifiotl.e mentions fome of the^ Difpenfatinn Italic, or "Pythagoric Schools, who placed the Sphere of fire in the Sun, and even called, it J,upiterh Prifon. 2)e C02 lo, Jj.U. See Pythagor.ia.n-
To make Way for his,ownSyflcm, Mr. Swinden under- takes to remove Hell out of the Centre of the Earth, from thefe two Considerations : ■ — ■ i°. That a. Fund of ■Fuel or Sulphur, fufrtcicnt to maintain fo furious and conflant a Fire, cannot be there fuppofed : And 2 . That it mull want the nitrous Particles in the Air, to fultain and keep it alive. — And how, fays he, can fuch Fire be Eternal, when by Degrees the whole Subflance of the Earth mull be confumed thereby ?
It muft.not be forgot, however, that TertulUan had long ago obviated the former of thefe Difficulties, by making a Difference between Arcanus, and, Publictts Ignis, fecret and open Fire : The Nature of the £r(l, according to him, is fuch, as that it not only confumes, hut repairs what it preys upon. — The latter Difficulty is folved by St. Auguftine, who .alledgcs, that God fupplies the Central Fire with Air, iby a Miracle, .
Mr. Swindell) however, proceeds to Shew, that the Cen- tral Parts of the Earth are poflefs'd by Water, rather than Fire; which he confirms from what Mofes fays of Water under the Earth, Exod. XX. from Pfalms XXIV. 2. and Job XXXI. 8. — As a further Proof, he alledges that there would want Room, in the Centre of the Earth, for fuch an infinite Holt of Inhabitants, as the fallen Angels, and wick- ed Men.
Z)rexelitts,wc know, has fix'd the Dimensions of //e# to a German Cubic Mile, and the Number of the Damned to an hundred Thoufand Millions : De ^Damnat or Career. & Rogo. But Mr. Swindcii thinks he needed not have been fo fparing in his Number, for that there might be found an hundred Times as many ; and that they mull neccffarily be unfufferabiy crowded in any Space we could allow 'em in our Earth. ■ — 'Tis impoffible, he concludes, to flow fuch a Multitude of Spirits in fuch a fcanty Apartment, with- out a Penetration of Dimensions, which, he doubts, is not good Pbilofophy, even in Refpect of Spirits : If it be, he adds, ' he does not fee why God mould prepare, /". e.
- make, a Prifon for 'em, when they might have been all
1 crowded together into a Baker's Oven.' f. 206.
His Arguments for the Sun's being the Local Hell, are,
i°. Its Capacity : — No Body will deny the Sun fpacious enough to receive all the damned conveniently ; fo that there will be no Want ot Room. Nor will Fire be want- ing, if we admit of Mr. Swinden's Argument againft Arijtotle, whereby he demonstrates that the Sun is hot, j>. 208, and feq. — ■ The Good Man is * fill'd with Amaze-
- ment to think what Pyrenean Mountains of Sulphur,
( how many Atlantic Oceans of fcalding Bitumen, muft 'go to maintain fuch mighty Flames as thofe of the ' Sun : Our JEtna and Vesuvius are mere Glow-Worms/
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2 . Its Distance and Opposition to the Empyreitm, which has ufually been look'd upon as the Local Heaven 5 fuch Opposition is perfectly anfwerable to that Opposition in the Nature and Office of a Place of Angels and Devils, of Elect and Reprobate, of Glory and Horror 5 of Halle- lujahs and Curlings : And the Dillance quadrates well with Dhes feeing Abraham afar off, &c. the great Gulf between them 5 which this Author takes to be the Solar Vortex.
3". That the Emfyretrm is the highefl, and the Sun the lowcft Place of the Creation ; considering it as the Centre of our Syftem : And that the Sun was the Siril Part of the viftble World created ; which agrees with the Notion of its being primarily intended or prepared to receive the Angels; whofe Fall he fuppofes to have im- mediately preceded the Creation.
4 . The early, and almoft univerfal Idolatry paid the
HEL
Sun ; which Suits well with the great Subtlety of that Spirit to entice Mankind to worfltip his Throne.
II. As to the Eternity of Hell "Torments, we have Origen, again, at the Head of thofe who deny it ; it being the Doctrine of that Writer, that not only Men, but DcviU themfelves, after a Suitable Courfe ot PuniShmcnt, anfwer- able to their refpective Crimes, Shall be pardoned and rcflorcd to Heaven. Aug. de Chit. 2)ei, L. XXI. C 17. — The chief Principle Origen went upon was this, that all Punishments are cmendatory ; applied only as painful Medicines, for the Recovery of the Patient's Health. Other Objections infilled on by modern Authors, are the Difproportion between temporary f Crimes, and eternal Punifliments, £fc.
The Scripture Phrafcs for Eternity, as Is obferved by Arch- bifliop Tillotfon, do not always import an infinite Dura- tion : Thus, in the Old Tellament, For Ever, often Signifies only a long Time ; particularly till the End of the Jswip Thus in the Epiil: of Jude, V. 7. "the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are faid to be Set forth for an Example, fuffering the Vengeance of Eternal Fire ; that is, of a Fire that was not extinguifhed till thofe Cities were utterly confumed. ■ — So one Generation is faid to come, ££c. but the Earth endureth for Ever.
In Effect, M. le Clerc notes, that there is no Hebrew Word which properly expreSfes Eternity: CD^"U7 Holaw, only imports a Time whofe Beginning or End is not known ; and is accordingly ufed in a more or lefs extenflve SenSc, according to the Thirls treated of
Thus, when God fays, concerning the yewift Laws, that they mull be obferved rZD^Ijr? leholam, forever; wears to underSland as Jong a Space as he Should think fit ; or a Space whofe End was unknown to the Jews before the com- ing of the Mefiiah. — All general Laws, and fuch as do not regard particular O cc ^fi° n s, are made for ever, whe- ther it be expreffed in thofe Laws or nor ; which yet is not to be understood in fuch a Manner, as if the Sove- raign Power could no Way change them.
ArchbiShop Tillotfon, however, argues very ftrenuouSly, that where Hell Torments are fpoke of, the Words are to be understood in the Strict $enfe of infinite Duration ; and what he citcems a peremptory Decision of the Point is, that the Duration of the Punifhment of the Wicked, is in the very Same Sentence expreffed by the very fame Word which is ufed for the Duration of the Happinefs of the righteous, which all agree to be Eternal. ' Thefe,' fpcakftig of the Wicked, f Shall go away, «f xoActaiv dtavioy t into eternal Punifliments, but the Righteous, vifyhv didytov y into Life eternal.
The fame great Author attempts to reconcile this Eter- nity with the Divine JuSlice, which had not been fatis- faclorily done before. — ■ Some had urged that all Sin is infinite, in Refpect of the Object it is committed againft, viz. God, and therefore delervcs infinite Punifhment : But, that Crimes Should be heightned. by the Quality of
the Objefl, Demerit of ;
to fuch Degree, is abfurd ; Since the Evil and Sin mull then be equal, inafmuch as none can be more than infinite ; and consequently there can 'be no Foundation for Degrees of Punifhment in the next Life. Add, that for the fame Reafon as the leait Sin againlt God is infinite, in Refpect of its Object ; the leait Pu- niShmcnt inflicted by God may be faid to be infinite, becaufe of its Author; and thus all Punifliments from, as well as Sins againll, God, would be equal.
Others have urged,, that if the Wicked were to live for ever, they would Sin for ever : But this, fays the Author, is mere Prefumption. Who can fay, that if a Man lived ever fo long, he would never repent ? Befides, the JuSlice of God only puniShes Sins Men have committed, not thofe they might poSIibly have done.
Others therefore urge that God gives Men the Choice of everlalling HappineSs and Mifery ; and that the Re- ward promifed to Obedience, is equal to the Punifhment threaten 'd to Difobedience. — To which it is anfwer'd, that tho' it be not contrary to JufKce to exceed in Re- wards, that being Matter of mere Favour; it may be fo to exceed in Punifliments.
It may be added, that Man in this Cafe has nothing to complain of, Since he has only his Election. — ■ But tho' this may fuffice to Silence the Sinner, and make him acknow- ledge his Destruction to be of himfelf, yet does not fatisfie the Objection from the Difproportion -between the Crime and the Punifliment. — -All the Considerations, therefore, hitherto alledg'd, proving ineffectual ; bur gre:it Author is left to folve the Difficulty himfelf.
In Order to this, he obferves that the Meafure of Pe- nalties, with Refpect to Crimes, is not only, nor always taken from the Quality and Degree of the Offence; much lefs from the Duration and Continuance of it;' but from the Reatons of Government, which require Such Penalties
