Q. Whither do sinners go to receive this punishment?—A. 'The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God' (Psa 9:17).
Q. What is hell?—A. It is a place and a state most fearful (Luke 13:28, 16:28; Acts 1:25).
Q. Why do you call it a place?—A. Because in hell shall all the damned be confined as in a prison, in their chains of darkness for ever (Luke 12:5,58, 16:26; Jude 6).
Q. What [kind of] place is hell?—A. It is a dark bottomless burning lake of fire, large enough to hold all that perish (Matt 22:13; Rev 20:1,15; Isa 30:35; Prov 27:20).
Q. What do you mean when you say it is a fearful state?—A. I mean, that it is the lot of those that are cast in thither to be tormented in most fearful manner, to wit, with wrath and fiery indignation (Rom 2:9; Heb 10:26,27).
Q. In what parts shall they be thus fearfully tormented?—A. In body and soul: for hell-fire shall kindle upon both beyond what now can be thought (Matt 10:28; Luke 16:24; James 5:3).[6]
Q. How long shall they be in this condition?—A. 'These shall go away into everlasting punishment' (Matt 25:46). 'And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night' (Rev 14:11). For they 'shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power' (2 Thess 1:9).
Q. But why might not the ungodly be punished with this punishment in this world, that we might have seen it and believe?—A. If the ungodly should with punishment have been rewarded in this world, it would in all probability have overthrown the whole order that God hath settled here among men. For who could have endured here to have seen the flames of fire, to have heard the groans, and to have seen the tears, perhaps, of damned relations, as parents or children? Therefore as Tophet of old was without the city, and as the gallows and gibbets are built without the towns;[7] so Christ hath ordered that they who are to be punished with this kind of torment, shall be taken away: 'Take him away,' saith he (out of this world) 'and cast him into outer darkness,' and let him have his punishment there 'there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matt 22:13). Besides, faith is not to be wrought by looking into hell, and seeing the damned tormented before our eyes, but by 'hearing the word of God' (Rom 10:17). For he that shall not believe Moses and the prophets, will not be persuaded should one come from the dead, yea should one come to them in flames to persuade them (Luke 16:27-31).
Q. Are there degrees of torments in hell?—A. Yes, for God will reward every one according to their works. 'Wo unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him' (Isa 3:11).
Q. Who are like to be most punished there, men or children?—A. The punishment in hell comes not upon sinners according to age, but sin; so that whether they be men or children, the greater sin, the greater punishment; 'For there is no respect of persons with God' (Rom 2:11).[8]