Reformation and Post-Reformation
Thought
(To The Nineteenth Century)
The Reformers were not especially interested in the doctrine of eternal punishment. In fact, they were not interested in eschatology in general, except for the doctrine of purgatory. As Quistorp, an authority on the subject says, "The theology of the reformers is not primarily concerned with questions of eschatology."1 The Reformers accepted the Medieval conceptions of hell, although, as with all doctrine, they returned to an emphasis on the Biblical teaching rather than human speculation. In the period following the Reformation, however, a great interest in the subject continued both in the Roman Catholic and in the Protestant Churches.
Luther's position is not entirely clear. He believed in hell; in fact it was an overwhelming fear of hell which caused his entrance into the monastery, which was one of the most
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important turning points of his life. However, Luther also made a statement in which he left room for salvation after death. He said, "God forbid that I should limit the time of acquiring faith to the present life. In the depth of the Divine mercy there may be opportunity to win it in the future."2 Those who believe in an opportunity for salvation beyond death make a great deal of this statement. However, it is commonly recognized that Luther was not as clearly a consistent thinker as Calvin, and this statement is evidently a passing hope rather than an integral part of Luther's creed. That this is the case is revealed in such passages of Luther's writing as, "By the doctrine of purgatory they are brought to trust in a false security so that they think they can put in store their salvation and delay things until the day of their death; they try to assume repentance and sorrows and escape purgatory by means of covenants, masses for the soul, and testaments, but doubtless, they will then discover the truth."3 Now to be logical, this same reasoning would hold for a doctrine of salvation beyond death, in fact, the argument would be even stronger than that against the doctrine of purgatory. Quistorp says, speaking of Luther's denial of purgatory, "The special reason which he gives for rejecting it is the character of decision which marks the whole of our present life in time: each hour may be the hour of our death and therefore we must decide for faith here and now and constantly live in the hope of the hereafter."4 Quistorp comes to this conclusion: "Both reformers hold fast to a two-fold issue — either acceptance to an eternity of bliss or rejection to eternal damnation, and are opposed to any neutralizing tendency which would dissolve the decisive significance of the gospel and of the faith."5
In regard to the intermediate state Luther seems to have
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held to a position nearly akin to soul sleep. The Jehovah's Witnesses take great delight in quoting him as proof that he held their position at that point. Luther did make statements such as this, "We must accustom and discipline ourselves to despise death in faith and to regard it as a deep, strong, and sweet sleep."6
The writings of Calvin contain a number of references to the subject. His view is expressed in the following section from the Institutes:
Moreover, as language cannot describe the severity of the divine vengeance on the reprobate, their pains and torments are figured to us by corporeal things, such as darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth, inextinguishable fire, the ever-gnawing worm (Mt. 8:12; 22:13; Mark 9:43; Isa. 66:24). It is certain that by such modes of expression the Holy Spirit designed to impress all our senses with dread, as when it is said, “Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: he has made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it,” (Isa. 30:33). As we thus require to be assisted to conceive the miserable doom of the reprobate, so the consideration on which we ought chiefly to dwell is the fearful consequence of being estranged from all fellowship with God, and not only so, but of feeling that his majesty is adverse to us, while we cannot possibly escape from it. For, first, his indignation is like a raging fire, by whose touch all things are devoured and annihilated. Next, all the creatures are the instruments of his judgment, so that those to whom the Lord will thus publicly manifest his anger will find that heaven, and earth, and sea,
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all beings, animate and inanimate, are, as it were, inflamed with dire indignation against them, and armed for their destruction. Wherefore, the Apostle made no trivial declaration, when he said that unbelievers shall be “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,” (2 Thess. 1:9). And whenever the prophets strike terror by means of corporeal figures, although in respect of our dull understanding there is no extravagance in their language, yet they give preludes of the future judgment in the sun and the moon, and the whole fabric of the world. Hence unhappy consciences find no rest, but are vexed and driven about by a dire whirlwind, feeling as if torn by an angry God, pierced through with deadly darts, terrified by his thunderbolts and crushed by the weight of his hand; so that it were easier to plunge into abysses and whirlpools than endure these terrors for a moment. How fearful, then, must it be to be thus beset throughout eternity! On this subject there is a memorable passage in the ninetieth Psalm: Although God by a mere look scatters all mortals, and brings them to nought, yet as his worshippers are more timid in this world, he urges them the more, that he may stimulate then, while burdened with the cross to press onward until he himself shall be all in all."8
Calvin's view can also be gleaned from his comments on those portions of Scripture which deal with eternal punishment. In a lengthy comment on Matthew 3:12, he makes his position clear: "Many persons, I am aware, have entered into ingenious debates about the eternal fire, by which the wicked will be tormented after the judgment. But we may conclude from many passages of Scripture, that it is a metaphorical expression. For, if we must believe that it is real, or what they call material fire, we must also believe that the brimstone and the fan are material, both of them being mentioned in Isaiah, 'For Tophet is ordained of old; the pile
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thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it' (Isaiah 30:33). We must explain the fire in the same manner as the worm, (Mark 8:44, 46, 48) and if it is universally agreed that the worm is a metaphorical term, we must form the same opinion as to the fire. Let us lay aside the speculations, by which foolish men weary themselves to no purpose, and satisfy ourselves with believing, that these forms of speech denote, in a manner suited to our feeble capacity, a dreadful torment, which no man can now comprehend, and no language can express."9
Commenting on Matthew 8:12 Calvin says, "By darkness Scripture points out that dreadful anguish, which can neither be expressed nor conceived in this life."10
On Matthew 13:42 "And shall cast them into a furnace of fire," he says, "This shall cast them into a furnace of fire," he says, "This is a metaphorical expression; for, as the infinite glory which is laid up for the sons of God so far exceeds all our senses, that we cannot find words to express it, so the punishment which awaits the reprobate is incomprehensible, and is therefore shadowed out according to the measure of our capacity. From ignorance of this, the Sophists have tortured themselves, to no purpose by fruitless disputes, as we have already hinted on a former occasion."11
Commenting on the phrase "into everlasting fire" in Matthew 25:41, he says, "Under these words, therefore, we ought to represent to our minds the future vengeance of God against the wicked, which, being more grievous than all earthly torments, ought rather to excite horror than a desire to know it. But we must observe the eternity of this fire, as well as of the glory which, a little before, was promised to believers."12
Especially enlightening are Calvin's comments on the
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Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus found in Luke 16. He believes this to be the narration of an actual incident, rather than a parable, yet he says, when commenting on the words "And, lifting up his eyes in hell": "Though Christ is relating a history, yet he describes spiritual things under figures, which he knew to be adapted to our senses. Souls have neither fingers nor eyes, and are not liable to thirst, nor do they hold such conversations among themselves as are here described to have taken place between Abraham and the rich man; but our Lord has here drawn a picture, which represents the condition of the life to come according to the measure of our capacity. The general truth conveyed is, that believing souls, when they have left their bodies, lead a joyful and blessed life out of this world, and that for the reprobate there are prepared dreadful torments, which can no more be conceived by our minds than the boundless glory of the heavens. As it is only in a small measure — only so far as we are enlightened by the Spirit of God — that we taste by hope the glory promised to us, which far exceeds all our senses, let it be reckoned enough that the inconceivable vengeance of God, which awaits the ungodly, is communicated to us in an obscure manner, so far as is necessary to strike terror into our minds.
"On these subjects the words of Christ give us slender information, and in a manner which is fitted to restrain curiosity. The wicked are described as fearfully tormented by the misery which they feel; as desiring some relief, but cut off from hope, and thus experiencing a double torment; and as having their anguish increased by being compelled to remember their crimes, and to compare the present blessedness of believers with their own miserable and lost condition. In connection with this a conversation is related, as if persons who have no intercourse with each other were supposed to talk together. When the rich man says, Father Abraham, this expresses an additional torment, that he perceives,
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when it is too late, that he is cut off from the number of the children of Abraham."13
Commenting on "a vast gulf lieth" in verse 26, Calvin says, "These words describe the permanency of the future state, and denote, that the boundaries which separate the reprobate from the elect can never be broken through. And thus we are reminded to return early to the path, while there is yet time, lest we rush headlong into that abyss, from which it will be impossible to rise."14
On Romans 11:32, "that he may have mercy on all," Calvin says, "Nothing can equal the gross conception of those madmen, who infer from this passage the salvation of the whole human race: Paul simply means, that Jews and Gentiles obtain salvation from no other cause than the mercy of God, that he may leave no ground for any one to complain."15
1 Corinthians 15:28 says, "That God may be all in all." On this Calvin says, "Others infer from this that the Devil and all the wicked will be saved — as if God would not altogether be better known in the Devil's destruction, than if he were to associate the Devil with himself, and make him one with himself. We see then, how impudently madmen of this sort wrest this statement of Paul for maintaining their blasphemies."16
We take as a final example from Calvin's Commentaries that on 2 Thessalonians 1:9, "Everlasting destruction from the face . . ." where he says, "He shews, by apposition, what is the nature of the punishment of which he had made mention — destruction without end, and an unending death. The perpetuity of the death is proved from the circumstance,
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that it has the glory of Christ as its opposite. Now, this is eternal, and has no end. Accordingly, the influence of that death will never cease. From this also the dreadful severity of the punishment may be inferred, inasmuch as it will be great in proportion to the glory and majesty of Christ."17
It would have been well if those who followed Calvin in his orthodoxy had followed him in his sanity of interpretation, particularly in recognizing the metaphorical nature of the language used in the Bible in describing eternal punishment. If they had all done so, there would have been a much less reactionary denial of the doctrine.
Quistorp's conclusion as to Calvin's position on the fate of the ungodly is: "This defeat, however, does not mean annihilation but eternal death. The eternal glorification of God is the whole meaning and purpose of eternal damnation. Calvin's descriptions of the ultimate fate of the godless are only brief in comparison with his account of the eternal salvation of the elect."18
On the Roman Catholic side, the outstanding figure in this period was Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) who founded the Jesuits. Of his famous Spiritual Exercises, the Fifth Exercise is a meditation on hell: "The first part will be to see with the eye of the imagination those great fires, and those souls as it were in bodies of fire. The second to hear with the ears lamentations, howlings, cries, blasphemies against Christ our Lord and against all his Saints. The third, with the sense of smell, to smell smoke, brimstone, refuse, and rottenness. The fourth, to taste with the taste bitter things, as tears, sadness and the worm of conscience. The fifth, to feel with the sense of touch how those fires do touch and burn souls."
In this same century, the Confession of Augsburg in 1530, in its Seventeenth Article stated very clearly, "Ungodly men
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and the devils shall he condemn into endless torments." This confession was prepared by Melanchthon, approved by Luther, and signed by the evangelical princes of Germany.
In the Church of England, in 1553 Cramner and his fellow Reformers formulated the Forty-Two Articles. The Forty-Second Article stated: "They are also worthy of condemnation (damnatione digni) who endeavor at this time to restore the dangerous (periculosam) opinion that all men, be they never so ungodly, shall at length be saved, when they have suffered pains for their sins a certain time appointed by God's justice." However, in 1563, this article, along with several others, was abolished, thus leaving the question outside the scope of the official doctrine of the Church of England. But, according to Pusey, the reason for this was not that there was a strong opposition to the doctrine of eternal punishment, but, quite the contrary, that it was considered that this heresy was a dead issue. This conclusion comes from the fact that the other articles dropped at this time were those which had been primarily aimed at the Anabaptist heresy, which by 1563 had ceased to be of importance. Whatever the reason, the dropping of this article had profound effect on English theology because it left the door wide open to all sorts of speculations on the subject. During this period, however, the generally accepted doctrine was that of eternal punishment. The non-conformist groups as well as the Church of England preached the doctrine. For example, Henry Smith (c. 1550-1591), a Puritan who was known as the "silver-tongued preacher" whose sermons passed through at least seventeen editions, said in one of them, "All the fires of hell leap upon his heart like a stage, Thought calleth to Fear; Fear whistleth to Horror, Horror beckoneth to Despair and saith, 'Come and help me torment this sinner.' "
The creedal statements of the Reformed Churches were also written during this period and contain several references
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to the subject. The Belgic Confession written in 1559 by Guido de Bres, in Article XXXVII "Of the Last Judgment" says, "And therefore the consideration of this judgment, is justly terrible and dreadful to the wicked and ungodly, but most desirable and comfortable to the righteous and the elect: because then their full deliverance shall be perfected, and there they shall receive the fruits of their labour and trouble which they have borne. Their innocence shall be known to all, and they shall see the terrible vengeance which God shall execute on the wicked, who most cruelly persecuted, oppressed and tormented them in this world; and who shall be convicted by the testimony of their own consciences, and being immortal, shall be tormented in that everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels."
In the Heidelberg Catechism, written by Olevianus and Ursinus in 1563 we read, "Q. 10. Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished? By no means: but is terribly displeased with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them in his just judgment, temporally and eternally, as he hath declared, 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them.' "
"Q. 11. Is not God then also merciful? God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore his justice requires that sin, which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment both of body and soul."
The Seventeenth Century
An indication of prevalent thought in the seventeenth century is revealed to us by the following examples of the works of otherwise unknown writers. A little known preacher named Greenwood published a sermon in 1614 entitled Tormenting Tophet giving a description of hell. This sermon was
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so popular that it reached fourteen editions. In 1620 a book called Decker's Dream gave a vivid description of hell. Antonius Rusca made the statement that hell waxes at the center of the earth, that the fire and serpents were material and that the fire produced coldness as well as heat. John Drexel in his book on hell sought to bring to the imagination the idea of eternity. He asked his readers to think of a million to the tenth power number of years, and then he went on to say that this period is a second of time in hell. Among his many other descriptions of eternity was this one: Suppose one flea or ant drinks its fill from the ocean, in time the world would become dry, but eternity would still not be ended.
The English bishop, Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), in his Contemplations on the State of Man, which some think was a translation of a Jesuit book, gives fifty pages to the description of the sufferings in hell. He himself, however, seemed to waver in his thinking on the subject. He writes, "The pains of the damned are infinitely too fiery to pass lightly upon persons who cannot help themselves, and who, if they were helped with clearer revelations, would have avoided it."19 "Concerning this doctrine of theirs, so severe and yet so moderate, there is less to be objected than against the supposed fancy of Origen; for it is strange consideration to suppose an eternal torment to those to whom it was never threatened, to those who never heard of Christ . . . " "It is certain that God's mercies are infinite, and it is also certain that the matter of eternal torments cannot be understood; and when the schoolmen go about to reconcile the Divine justice to that severity, and consider why God punishes eternally a temporal sin or a state of evil, they speak variously and uncertainly, and unsatisfyingly."20 It is well to point out that Jeremy Taylor is not here denying the fact of eternal
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punishment but rather expressing his concern with the problem of special cases such as that of the heathen who have never heard the gospel.21 Taylor goes on to speak of the punishments of the wicked in the old traditional tone, recalling his interpretation of the "second death," and explains it as meaning "a dying to all felicity," a being "miserable for ever."
The main English groups of non-conformists were believers in eternal punishment. Christopher Love (1608-1651), a Presbyterian martyr, wrote a treatise in 1651 called Heaven's Glory, Hell's Terror (350 pp. 1653), in which he mentioned among other things the idea that the elect will enjoy the spectacle of the torment of the lost. John Bunyan (1628-1688) the famous Baptist allegorist also wrote about hell. In his Last Remains, almost thirty-five pages are devoted to the subject. His Sighs from Hell, or Groans of a Damned Soul went into twenty editions. Bunyan, in this book, says that the following will go to hell: hunters, dancers, those who paint their faces, those that follow plays and sports, singing drunkards, and such as for fear of rain, or wind are loath to leave their chimney-corner and go to church. An exception among the non-conformists seems to have been Peter Sterry (d. 1672) who had tendencies toward universalism. However, other of his writings seem to contradict this position. He probably had an influence on Maurice who played an important part in the controversies on this subject later in English history.
The poetry of John Milton (1608-1674) contains vivid descriptions of hell. For example:
"At once as far as angels ken he views
The dismal situation waste and wild:
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round
As one great furnace flamed, yet
from those flames
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No light, but rather darkness visible
Serveal only to discover sight of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades,
Where peace and rest can never
dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still rages, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed."22
Whether Milton thought of hell as being literally what he described it to be is an unanswered question, but it is certain that the concept of hell which emphasized its physical aspects was reinforced by Milton's poetry.
Richard Baxter (1615-1691), one of the greatest English theologians and pastors, in The Saints' Everlasting Rest, has two chapters devoted entirely to the misery of those who lose the blessing of everlasting rest. He lists as included in their punishment the following: the loss of a personal perfection of the saints, the loss of God himself, the loss of all delightful affections toward God, and the loss of the blessed society of angels and glorified spirits. He states that this loss will be aggravated by the fact that those who are lost will have their understanding cleared and enlarged, their consciences brought to a true and close application, their affections more lively and their memories strengthened. He mentions as further cause for sorrow the fact that they will lose all those things which they enjoyed in this world.
Baxter then speaks at length of the torments of hell itself. He shares the extreme statements of his age on the subject, saying "The everlasting flames of hell will not be thought too hot for the rebellious; and when they have there burned through millions of ages, he will not repent him of the evil which is befallen them. Woe to the soul that is thus set up as a butt, for the wrath of the Almighty to shoot at; and as
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a bush that must burn in the flames of his jealousy, and never be consumed."23 He also shared the strange idea, which is prevalent in the history of thought on the subject, that Satan will be the executioner of the divine wrath. He makes the very interesting statement, "They were wont to think sermons and prayers long; how long then will they think these endless torments."24 He also makes the following thought-provoking statements: "Let me ask once more, if the wrath of God be so light, why did the Son of God himself make so great a matter of it?"25 "This kind of preaching or writing is the ready way to be hated; and the desire of applause is so natural, that few delight in such a displeasing way. But consider, are these things true, or are they not? If they were not true I would heartily join with thee against any that fright people without a cause. But if these threatenings be the word of God, what a wretch art thou, that wilt not hear it, and consider it."26 "Preaching heaven and mercy to thee, is entreating thee to seek them and not reject them; and preaching hell, is but to persuade thee to avoid it. If thou wert quite past hope of escaping it, then were it in vain to tell thee of hell; but as long as thou art alive, there is hope of the recovery, and therefore all means must be used to awake thee from thy lethargy."27
Francois Fenelon (1651-1715) was an outstanding French mystic. In his Telemaque, a book read throughout Europe, he states his conviction that the punishment of hypocrites will be more severe than of those who murder their own mothers. Lewis du Moulin, a professor of history at Oxford, wrote a treatise in 1680 in which he sought to prove that not one in one hundred thousand people is saved.
There were also creedal statements made in the seventeenth
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century which included articles on the subject. The Westminster Confession, still the official creed of the Presbyterian churches, was written in 1646, and spoke of "others foreordained unto everlasting death." The Larger Catechism, written at the same time, stated that "The punishments of sin in the world to come are everlasting separation from the comfortable presence of God, and most grievous torments in soul and body, without intermission, in hell-fire forever." The Baptist Confession of 1677, adopted by the General Assembly in London in 1689 said that the lost "shall be cast into everlasting torments, and punished with everlasting destruction."
The closing years of the seventeenth century, also produced new ideas which were very different from the orthodox positions that had been prevalent in the past. For example, in England Coward taught that man utterly perishes in the grave, but at the last day Christ will raise up the believers again. This position was similar to that of the Psychopannychians against whom Calvin had written a long time before. Many men were engaged on both sides of the resulting controversy. The so-called Cambridge Platonists brought about a revival of Universalism at this time. Benjamin Whichcote (1609-1683), one of their leaders, was well acquainted with Peter Sterry, by whom he was probably influenced. Some extracts from Whichcote's Sermons (1698) will give some idea of his thinking: "Hell arises out of a man's self. Hell's fuel is the guilt of a man's conscience." "Where there is wisdom and goodness in the assent all punishment is for instruction, reformation, and bettering of the offender, for example to by-standers, not for the revenge upon the party."
The Eighteenth Century
The eighteenth century witnessed an increasing revolt against the orthodox position.
The peculiar doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)
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contained lengthy descriptions of hell which are a combination of the most weird ideas with some very penetrating thoughts on the subject. According to Swedenborg, "Hell, the same as heaven, is divided into societies."28 "There are three hells."29 Swedenborg believed that the Biblical words Devil, Satan, and Lucifer are actually names for each of the three hells.
As to those who inhabit hell, "All who are in hells . . . are from the human race . . . . Those who have gone there from the beginning of creation to this time amount to myriads of myriads, and every one of them is a devil in accord with his opposition to the Divine while he lived in the world."30
As to how men get to hell, "He (God) casts no one into hell and is angry with no one."31 "Evil in man is hell in him, for it is the same thing whether you say evil or hell . . . He is led into hell, not by the Lord but by himself."32
The faces and bodies of spirits in the life to come will be an exact expression of the inward being. "In general their faces are hideous and void of life like those of corpses, the faces of some are black, others fiery like torches, others disfigured with pimples, warts, and ulcers; some seem to have no face, but in its stead something hairy or bony, etc."33
According to Swedenborg, it is misdirected love which is the cause of hell. "These two loves, the love of self and the love of the world rule in the hells and constitute the hells; as love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor rule in the heavens and constitute the heavens."34 Picture to yourself
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a society of such persons, all of whom love themselves alone."35 Infernal fire is the lust and delight that springs from these two loves as their organs."36 He speaks of the fact that there are restraints on evil in this life, such as that of law and hope of gain, honor and reputation. But in the life to come these are all removed and a man becomes what he really is internally.
As to the position of hell in the universe, according to Swedenborg the hells are in the lowest parts of the spiritual world. "The hells are every where, both under the mountains, hills and rocks and under the plains and valleys."37 "In the milder hells there is an appearance of rude huts . . . In some of the hells there are nothing but brothels . . . There are also deserts where all is barren and sandy."38 "In the most remote hells in that quarter are those that had belonged to the Catholic religion, so called, and that had wished to be worshipped as gods."39 "There are likewise hells beneath hells. Some communicate with others by passages and more by exhalations, and this is in exact accordance with the affinities of one kind of one species of evil with others."40
Later in the eighteenth century, no less a person than William Law (1686-1761), best known for his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, made the statement that "As for the perfection of all human nature . . . I fully believe it." Joseph Butler (1692-1752), Bishop of Durham, in his famous Analogy also expressed some unorthodox ideas. He was not a universalist, but left room for some to obtain salvation in the world to come. The pertinent statement is: "Virtue, to borrow the Christian allusion, is militant here, and various untoward accidents contribute to its being often overborne;
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but it may combat with greater advantage here after, and prevail completely, and enjoy its consequent rewards in some future states. Neglected as it is, perhaps unknown, perhaps despised and oppressed here, there may be scenes in eternity lasting enough, and in every way adapted to afford it a sufficient sphere of action; and a sufficient sphere for the natural consequences of it to follow in fact . . . And, one might add, that suppose all this advantageous tendency of virtue to become effective amongst one or more orders of vicious creatures in any distant scene or period throughout the universal kingdom of God; this happy effect of virtue would have a tendency, by way of example, and possibly in other ways, to amend those of them who are capable of amendment and being recovered to a just sense of virtue. If our notions of the plan of Providence were enlarged in any sense proportionable to what late discoveries have enlarged our views with respect to the material world, representations of this kind would not appear absurd or extravagant."41
But the century also had its able advocates of the traditional belief. In 1744, Matthew Horbury wrote his Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine Concerning the Duration of Future Punishment. He wrote this as the orthodox answer to the peculiar views of Whiston. Certainly one of the most fervent preachers of the doctrine of hell was the very influential Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). He shared the belief that hell would be a source of happiness to the saints. In fact, he said that the doctrine of election of sinners to eternal damnation was "exceedingly pleasant, bright and sweet." In his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (published in Boston in 1741 and frequently republished) — he tries to get his listeners to imagine being in a great furnace, where the pain is much greater than that experienced when accidentally touching a coal, to imagine what
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that would be like for a quarter of an hour, how after one minute how awful it must be to think of fourteen more, to imagine an hour of such suffering, twenty-four hours, one year, 1000 years and after millions and millions of ages to be no nearer to the end. Of Edwards' statements, James Orr says, "There is hardly anything in literature more appalling, for example, than the sermon of Jonathan Edwards on this subject, nor is it easy to explain how so spiritual and gracious a man — one so penetrated by the thought of the love of God — could allow himself to write as he did of the dealings of the Almighty even with the condemned."41
There are those however who feel Edwards is misunderstood. For example, F. H. Foster says that those who severely criticize Edwards "fail to regard the character and condition of the persons to whom it was preached."42 Strong says, "It is sometimes fancied that Jonathan Edwards, when, in his sermon 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,' he represented the sinner as a worm shriveling in the eternal fire, supposed that hell consists mainly of such physical torments. But this is a misinterpretation of Edwards. As he did not fancy heaven essentially to consist in streets of gold or pearly gates, but rather in holiness and communion with Christ, of which these are the symbols, so he did not regard hell as consisting in fire and brimstone, but rather in the unholiness and separation from God of a guilty and accusing conscience, of which the fire and brimstone are symbols. He used the material imagery because he thought that this best answered to the methods of Scripture. He probably went beyond the simplicity of the Scripture statements, and did not sufficiently explain the spiritual meaning of symbols he used; but we are persuaded that he neither
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understood them literally himself, nor meant them to be so understood by others."43
Edwards' disciple, Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803), stated that for every degree of misery the damned feel, the happiness of saints shall be increased millions of millions of degrees.
The Roman Catholic Church also produced some very descriptive literature in this era. The book of the Jesuit F. Pinamonti was translated from the Italian. It was a meditation for each day of the week entitled Hell Opened to Christians. It was illustrated with seven vivid woodcuts. It was one of the many books illustrating the demons enjoying their work as torturers. In his written description, Pinamonti goes so far as to analyze the awful odor of hell as a combination of the stench of all the filth on earth plus that of burning brimstone and that of decaying carcasses. Then he refers the reader to Saint Bonaventura for further details.
Chapter 6 || Table of Contents
1. Heinrich Quistorp, Calvin's Doctrine of the Last Things (Lutterworth Press, London, 1955), p. 11.
2. In a letter to Hansen von Rechenberg in 1522.
3. Luther, Luther's Works (Weimar Edition), 10, I, 111, 22.
4. Quistorp, Op. Cit., p. 107.
5. Ibid., p. 12.
6. Luther, Op. Cit., pp. 35, 478, 12.
7. Quistorp, Op. Cit., p. 98.
8. Calvin, The Institutes, Book III, Chapter XXV, Section XII.
9. Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949, Grand Rapids), Trans. by W. Pringle, I. 200.
10. Ibid., p. 384.
11. Ibid., II, 124.
12. Ibid., III, 182.
13. Ibid., II, 188, 189.
14. Ibid., pp. 190, 191.
15. Calvin, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (J. Whetham, Philadelphia, 1836), Trans. F. Gibson, p. 292.
16. Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, 1948), Trans. J. Pringle, II, 33, 34.
17. Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, 1948), Trans. J. Pringle, p. 318.
18. Quistorp, Op. Cit., p. 191.
19. Works (ed. Heber), vi, pp. 198, 199.
20. Ibid., pp. 47, 48.
21. See Appendix II.
22. J. Milton, The Portable Milton, edit. D. Bush, "Paradise Lost" Book I, Line 59-69 (Viking Press, New York, 1949), p. 234.
23. Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest (Philadelphia, W.A. Leary and Co.), p. 98.
24. Ibid., p. 102.
25. Ibid., p. 103.
26. Ibid., p. 104.
27. Ibid., p. 105.
28. E. Swedenborg, Heaven and its Wonders and Hell (New York, The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, 1922), (First published in Latin, London, 1785), p. 505.
29. Ibid., p. 506.
30. Ibid., p. 507.
31. Ibid., p. 509.
32. Ibid., p. 511.
33. Ibid., p. 518.
34. Ibid., p. 520.
35. Ibid., p. 526.
36. Ibid., p. 534.
37. Ibid., p. 551.
38. Ibid., p. 553, 554.
39. Ibid., p. 555.
40. Ibid., p. 557.
41. Joseph Butler, Analogy, Part i. c. 3.
42. James Orr, The Progress of Dogma
43. Strong, Op. Cit., p. 1035.