Again, because those mighty men of the earth, that lived in the time of Noah, before the flood, (which the Greeks call heroes, and the Scripture giants, and both say were begotten by copulation of the children of God with the children of men,) were for their wicked life destroyed by the general deluge; the place of the damned, is therefore also sometimes marked out, by the company of those deceased giants; as Proverbs xxi. 16, The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the giants; and Job xxvi. 5, Behold the giants groan under water, and they that dwell with them. Here the place of the damned is under the water. And Isaiah xiv. 9, Hell is troubled how to meet thee (that is, the King of Babylon) and will displace the giants for thee: and here again the place of the damned, if the sense be literal, is to be under water. |Lake of fire.| Thirdly, because the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, by the extraordinary wrath of God, were consumed for their wickedness with fire and brimstone, and together with them the country about made a stinking bituminous lake: the place of the damned is sometimes expressed by fire, and a fiery lake, as in the Apocalypse, xxi. 8, But the timorous, incredulous, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death. So that it is manifest, that hell fire, which is here expressed by metaphor from the real fire of Sodom, signifieth not any certain kind or place of torment; but is to be taken indefinitely, for destruction, as it is in Rev. xx. 14, where it is said, that death and hell were cast into the lake of fire; that is to say, were abolished and destroyed; as if after the day of judgment, there shall be no more dying, nor no more going into hell; that is, no more going to Hades, (from which word perhaps our word Hell is derived,) which is the same with no more dying.
Utter darkness.
Fourthly, from the plague of darkness inflicted on the Egyptians, of which it is written (Exod. x. 23) They saw not one another, neither rose any man from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings; the place of the wicked after judgment, is called utter darkness, or, as it is in the original, darkness without. And so it is expressed (Matth. xxii. 13) where the king commanded his servants, to bind hand and foot the man that had not on his wedding garment, and to cast him out, εἰς[εἰς] τὸ σκοτος τὸ ἐξώτερον, into external darkness, or darkness without: which though translated utter darkness, does not signify how great, but where that darkness is to be; namely, without the habitation of God’s elect.
Gehenna, and Tophet.
Lastly, whereas there was a place near Jerusalem, called the Valley of the Children of Hinnon; in a part whereof, called Tophet, the Jews had committed most grievous idolatry, sacrificing their children to the idol Moloch; and wherein also God had afflicted his enemies with most grievous punishments; and wherein Josiah had burned the priests of Moloch upon their own altars, as appeareth at large in the 2nd of Kings, chap. xxiii.: the place served afterwards to receive the filth and garbage which was carried thither out of the city; and there used to be fires made from time to time, to purify the air, and take away the stench of carrion. From this abominable place, the Jews used ever after to call the place of the damned, by the name of Gehenna, or Valley of Hinnon. And this Gehenna, is that word which is usually now translated HELL; and from the fires from time to time there burning, we have the notion of everlasting and unquenchable fire.
Of the literal sense of the Scripture concerning hell.
Seeing now there is none, that so interprets the Scripture, as that after the day of judgment, the wicked are all eternally to be punished in the Valley of Hinnon; or that they shall so rise again, as to be ever after under ground or under water; or that after the resurrection, they shall no more see one another, nor stir from one place to another: it followeth, methinks, very necessarily, that that which is thus said concerning hell fire, is spoken metaphorically; and that therefore there is a proper sense to be enquired after, (for of all metaphors there is some real ground, that may be expressed in proper words,) both of the place of hell, and the nature of hellish torments, and tormenters.
Satan, Devil, not proper names, but appellatives.
And first for the tormenters, we have their nature and properties, exactly and properly delivered by the names of, the Enemy, or Satan; the Accuser, or Diabolus; the Destroyer, or Abaddon. Which significant names, Satan, Devil, Abaddon, set not forth to us any individual person, as proper names use to do; but only an office, or quality; and are therefore appellatives; which ought not to have been left untranslated, as they are in the Latin and modern Bibles; because thereby they seem to be proper names of demons; and men are the more easily seduced to believe the doctrine of devils; which at that time was the religion of the Gentiles, and contrary to that of Moses and of Christ.
And because by the Enemy, the Accuser, and Destroyer, is meant the enemy of them that shall be in the kingdom of God; therefore if the kingdom of God after the resurrection, be upon the earth, as in the former chapter I have shown by Scripture it seems to be, the Enemy and his kingdom must be on earth also. For so also was it, in the time before the Jews had deposed God. For God’s kingdom was in Palestine; and the nations round about, were the kingdoms of the Enemy; and consequently by Satan, is meant any earthly enemy of the Church.