Hell

“Then shall He say… ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.'”

Mt. 25:41

“…and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:”

Rev. 14:10

“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”

Rev. 20:14

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Subsections

Degrees of Punishment in Hell
Reformed vs. Aquinas

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Order of Contents

Articles  6+
Quote  1
Necessity of  1
Duration of  1
On Universalism  1
Latin  3


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Articles

1500’s

Viret, Pierre – Dialogue 5, ‘The Hells’  in The Christian Disputations…  Dialogue-wise  tr. John Brooke  (d. 1571; London: East, 1579), pp. 210-60  Index

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1600’s

Perkins, William

A Golden Chain  (Cambridge: Legat, 1600)

55. Of the State & Condition of the Reprobates when they are Dead
56. Of the Condemnation of the Reprobates at the Last Judgment
57. Of the Estate of the Reprobates in Hell
.        A Corollary

The Foundation of Christian Religion, Gathered into Six Principles  an appendix to A Golden Chain  (Cambridge: Legat, 1600)

6th Principle: Estate of Men after Death
6th Principle Expounded

Bucanus, William – 40. ‘Of Eternal Death’  in Institutions of Christian Religion...  (London: Snowdon, 1606), pp. 494-501

From whence is death derived?
How manifold is death?
What is eternal death?
If the soul and body of the reprobates shall have a being and shall live forever, why is their future estate not called a life, but a death?
What are the epithets of eternal death?
What be the causes of eternal death?
For whom is eternal death prepared?
What place is ordained for eternal death?
What is Hell?
Where is Hell?
When shall the punishments of Hell begin?
Shall the torments of the damned be perpetual?
Shall the condition of the damned be alike as touching the very measure of eternal torments?
To what end is Hell?
What is the use of this doctrine?
Who are they that resist this doctrine?

Ames, William – ch. 16, ‘The Consummation of Death’  in The Marrow of Theology  tr. John D. Eusden  (1623; Baker, 1997), bk. 1, pp. 125-27

Ames (1576-1633) was an English, puritan, congregationalist, minister, philosopher and controversialist.  He spent much time in the Netherlands, and is noted for his involvement in the controversy between the reformed and the Arminians.  Voet highly commended Ames’s Marrow for learning theology.

Walaeus, Anthony – 52. ‘On Life & Death Everlasting & on the End of the World’  in Synopsis of a Purer Theology: Latin Text & English Translation  Buy  (1625; Brill, 2016), vol. 3, pp. 582-625

Maccovius, John – ch. 22, ‘On Condemnation’  in Scholastic Discourse: Johannes Maccovius (1588-1644) on Theological & Philosophical Distinctions & Rules  (1644; Apeldoorn: Instituut voor Reformatieonderzoek, 2009), pp. 285-89

Maccovius (1588–1644) was a reformed, supralapsarian Polish theologian.

Leigh, Edward – ch. 3. Of Hell or Damnation  in A System or Body of Divinity…  (London, A.M., 1654), bk. 10, pp. 864-68

Turretin, Francis – 7. ‘Is there a hell?  And what are its punishmentswhether only of loss or also of sense?  We affirm the latter.’  in Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr.  (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 3, 20th Topic, p. 604 ff.

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1700’s

Mather, Cotton – The Valley of Hinnom. The Terrors of Hell Demonstrated & the Methods of Escaping the Terrible Miseries of the Punishments on the Wicked there, Declared. In a sermon preached in the hearing, and at the request, of a man under a sentence of death for a murder; just before the execution of the sentence; and upon a text by himself assigned for the sermon to insist upon  (Boston, 1717)  on Mt. 10:28  55 pp.

Edwards, Jonathan – Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Deut. 32:35  (1741)  38 paragraphs


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Quote

1600’s

Andreas Essenius

‘Theological Disputation on the Image of God in Man’  Download  tr. Jonathan Tomes  (Utrecht: Johannes Waesberg, 1653), Appendix  Latin

“II. Do the damned in hell sin by despairing of their liberation?  Negative.”


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On the Necessity of Hell

Dabney, Robert – Vindicatory Justice Essential to God  (1881)  17 pp.


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On the Duration of Hell

See also ‘Is Vindicatory Justice Essential to God?’

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Articles

1600’s

Barlow, Thomas – Exercitation 1, in which that…  question, Whether it be more eligible to be annihilated, or not to be at all, than to be miserable, is discussed: as also Durandus’s reasons are considered, who asserts that it is better, and according to the rules of right reason, more preferable to be miserable, than to be reduced to a simple non-entity  in The Genuine Remains of…  Thomas Barlow...  (d. 1691; London: Dunton, 1693), pp. 470-520

Conclusion 1. That annihilation, or [Greek], non esse, (to speak in absolute terms) includes no goodness in it at all; nor taken by itself (without relation to any other thing) can ever be the object of a man’s appetite, nor move him to the desire and prosecution of itself.

2. In respect of the manifestation of God’s glory, it is better and more eligible to be punished than to be annihilated, to be miserable than not to be: or (which is the same thing) the glory of God is more manifestly declared in the inflicting just and deserved punishment on a sinful creature than in reducing the same to its primitive nothing by the interposition of his omnipotent hand.

3. It is beyond all controversy that in the judgment of the miserable man himself, it seems better to him to be annihilated than to be eternally tormented with such insupportable and exquisite torments.

4. It is certain and undoubtedly true that to enjoy the goodness of existence, or bonitas essentiae (which the eternally damned possess), while taken by itself and without respect to any annexed evil, is better than to be annihilated.

5. It is better, and in conformity to right reason, more eligible to be annihilated than to be eternally tormented, notwithstanding that existential good that the damned possess.

6. In the state of annihilation there is no evil at all, but only a simple and bare negation of good.

7. It is better, and in conformity to right reason, more eligible to be annihilated than to undergo the evil of punishment (though separated from the evil of sin) that the damned are tormented withal.

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1800’s

Alexander, Archibald A. – Universalism False & Unscriptural: an Essay on the Duration & Intensity of Future Punishment  (1851)  104 pp.

Here is an example of Alexander’s polemics against the rising tide of his day that denied the eternity and retributive nature of Hell.

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Quote

1800’s

John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan

“The eternal punishment endured by the sinner can never be finished, as the infinite punishment endured by Christ was; it will ever fall short of legal acquital.”


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On Universalism

Article

1500’s

Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction…  (London: Veale, 1573), The Exposition of the Preface of the Law

Of the opinion of those which say that none shall be damned: and of the abuse of the mercy of God, and of the greatness of sin, and of the pain due to the same, and of the wrath of God against it, declared in the death of Jesus Christ, and of the mean whereby to be delivered from it, and in what meaning we ought to understand that God has made no man to destroy or damn him


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Latin Articles

1600’s

Voet, Gisbert – Syllabus of Theological Problems  (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1  Abbr.

section 1, tract 3, On Hell
section 2, tract 6

On the Separated Soul of the Damned (Place & Punishment)

1. Of the State of Eternal Death After the Judgment  (in General, as to the Soul, Will, Intellect & Body)

2. Of Hell  (Existence, Place & Situation, Hell-Fire, Whether there is Infernal Refreshment?)

Appendix: On Hell & the State of the Damned (in General & Before & After the Judgment)

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“There is nothing but Christ between us and hell; and, thanks be to God, we need nothing else.”

“It is death to be separated from Christ for a moment.”

John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan

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Related Pages

The Judgment

Heaven

Glorification

On the General Resurrection

On the Renovation, New Heavens & Earth & Believers’ Eternal Home

On Purgatory, Indulgences & on the Limbos of the Fathers & of Infants

On Eternal Life