Fire and brimstone from heaven, from earth, in hell, or, Three discourses I. Concerning…

Although most of these things which we may find in many Poets, and other Heathen Authors are fictions of their own brain, yet that there is such a place as Hell is real, and the punishment real, and far beyond whatever any of the Heathens could imagine it to be: Therefore let us consult the Scripture, which will give clearer light in this thing, where God, who hath made and prepared Hell for the wicked, hath made known the thing, and threatened to punish the wicked there everlastingly. Look into the Old Testament, Psal. 9. 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all Nations which forget God. I know that the Original word for Hell, namely [Greek or Hebrew] doth signify the Grave; but here it must have a further signification than that of the Grave, since it is appropriated unto the wicked, and such as forget God, otherwise, it might as truly be said, that the righteous shall be turned into Hell, and those that remember and fear, and love, and serve God, for they shall be turned into the Grave. So Isa. 14. 12, 13, 15. How art thou fallen ⟨p. 92⟩from Heaven (speaking of the King of Babylon,) O Lucifer Son of the morning, thou hast said in thine heart I will ascend into Heaven, and exalt my Throne above the Stars of God; yet thou shalt be brought to Hell, to the sides of the pit. That Hell here is not to be understood of the Grave only, but of the place also where the wicked shall be tormented will appear, if you compare this pla• with Isa. 30. 33. Where the Prophet speaking of the same King of Babylon saith. Tophet is ordained of Old, yea for the King it is prepared▪ […] made it deep and large, the pile thereof is […] much Wood, the breath of the Lord like a […] of Brimstone doth kindle it. Which descripti• is applicable unto no place, but that place of everlasting burnings, which the Lord hath prepared for the wicked. Indeed Tophet was a real place upon the Earth, where some Idolatrous Israelites did offer up their Children in sacrifice to Malec; but here Hell is called Tophet, in allusion to that place, because of the shrieks and cries which the damned shall make there worse than the children did in Tophet, when they were Sacrificed by their cruel Parents.