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instantly presents itself to our view; and the material obstacle being removed, the soul perceives what a moment before was invisible. St. Paul tells us (II. Corinthians, chap. 5, v. 6 and 8.) " When we are present with the body we are absent from "the Lord; but when we are absent from "the body, we are present with the Lord.” This might seem to be enough to cure us of our attachment to the body; unless we prefer, says Sherlock, to be always inclosed in a prison, and to look through bars, instead of being at liberty, and to enjoy a glorious perspective of the world. Death opens our eyes, extends our views, and gives the prospect of a new and glorious world, which we should never descry while detained in the bonds of this mortal body.

151. LOCALITY OF HELL, AND DURATION OF ITS TORMENTS.

There are two great questions agitated respecting Hell: its place, and the eternity or limitation of its torments. The : ancients called it Tartarus, ades, "aồng; the Jews, Gehenna, in the valley of Hinnom;

Homer and Hesiod placed it under the Earth; others under the Tenarus; some beneath the lake of Avernus, in Campania; and others, at the source of the Styx, a river of Arcadia. The first Christians imagined it to be at the Antipodes, or in the centre of the Earth (see Tertullian). Perhaps this terrestial globe will be converted into a place of punishment for the wicked and the fallen angels. According to Whiston, the comets are so many hells, destined to transport the damned into the neighbourhood of the Sun, to be tortured by its firc, and thence into the regions of cold and darkness, beyond the orbit of Saturn. Swinden places Hell in the Sun itself; and Pythagoras, before him, had placed it within the sphere of fire. The reasons given by Swinden are, its capacity, and its distance from the empyreum, taking that as the centre of the general system of the universe.

Origen denied the eternity of the pains of hell, and several other grave authors, of our time, have maintained his opinion; among others, the celebrated Archbishop

Tillotson. He observes, that the measure of punishment is not only always governed by the degree of crime, but by reasons of policy, which inflicts certain punishments to insure obedience to the laws; and prevent a breach of them. The first object of menace is not punishment, but the prevention of the transgression of the law. God does not menace man, to the end that, if he sins, he may be punished, but that he may not sin and may be saved. It is, therefore, that the greater the menace, the more is mercy shewn. Beside, he who utters the menace, reserves to himself the power executing or forbearing. There is this difference between menaces and promises, that he who promises is obliged to keep his promise, but he who menaces, still preserves the right of punishment or pardon; he is obliged to execute his menaces only as the reasons of his government may demand that of him. Thus God sent Jonas to announce the destruction of Nineveh, he comprehended his rights, and did what seemed good in his eyes, although the threatening was positive, and independent

of

of the repentance of the inhabitants of that city.

152. OF DEMONS, THEIR State and DwEL

LING.

Demons, with the ancients, were spirits subordinate to the divinity, and acting under his command. Plato in his Timeus, makes them demi-Gods, to whom the Supreme Being committed the arrangement of the different parts of the world: it is therefore that Orpheus calls them Δαίμονας Ουρανίας καὶ nepìos xai évúdgos. In the Gospel, demons are κερὶος καὶ ἐνύδρος. most frequently mentioned as possessing the spirits of men and tormenting their bodies, they are called angels (Matthew 25. v. 41), τῷ διαβόλῳ, καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αυτέ, to the devil and his angels; and St. Peter (2 Ep. ch. 2. ν. 4) εἰ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς αγγέλων ἁμαρτησάντων ἐκ ἐφείσατο : If God has not spared the angels who have sinned: where the Apostle designates those of whom Jude says, they have not preserved their power, but have fallen from their first state. Μὴ τηρήσαντας τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὴν ἀλλὰ ἀπολιπόντας τὸ ἴδιον οικητήριον, οι whom St. John (ch. 8. v. 44) says, that the

chief ἐν τη αληθεία & έςηκε, had not remained in the way of truth. St. Peter, in the same place, says, that God had cast them into darkness, where they were kept in chains till the day of judgment: σngãis ζόφε ταρταρώσας παρέδοκεν εις κρίσιν τητηρημένες : And the same in the Apostle Jude, εἰς κρίσιν μεγάλης ἡμέρας δεσμοις ἀϊδίοις ὑπὸ ζόφον τετήρηκεν. These fallen angels, having enjoyed celestial light, find themselves as if in darkness, being precipated into the lower regions of the air; wherefore St. Paul calls Satan the prince of the powers of the air: τὸν ἄρχοντα Tis itovoias To ǎegos (Ephes. ch. 2. v. 2.). It is to be observed, that ragragov signifies to precipitate into a lower region, and rágraga means every place which is below, whether on earth, in the water, or the air. Thus Homer (Illiad . M. p.) says, rágтagov nepovτa, Cópov negóvra: the Tartarus of the air, the shades of the air.

153. ANECDOTE OF PICHLer.

Pichler, who was born at Rome, of German parents, was one of the most able engravers on gems among the moderns,