Nor other light remain'd, than what the glare
Of those reverberating fires bestowed:
Then all the dungeon round was thick beset
With horrid faces, threat'ning as they glar'd
Their haggard eyes upon him; from hell's lake
Flocking they came, whole legions of the damn'd,
His worshippers on earth, sensual, profane,
Abominable in their lives, monsters of vice,
Blood-stain'd murderers, apostate kings,
And crowned tyrants some, tormented now
For their past crimes, and into furies turn'd.

CUMBERLAND.

I know the subjects of this article were never the objects of my sight, though they are of my faith. I never yet saw heaven or hell, the places I am now speaking of; but why should my faith be staggered or dimished because of that? I never saw Rome or Constantinople; I never saw the flaming Sicilian hill, Ætna; yet I can believe there is such a burning mountain, and such glorious cities; because others, who have been there, have told me so; and faithful writers have related and described them to me. And shall I believe my fellow-worms, and not my great Creator, who is truth itself? What though I never saw the New Jerusalem that is above, nor the flaming Tophet that is below? Yet, since God himself hath both related and described them to me, why should I doubt of them? Why should I not a thousand times sooner believe them to be, than if I had seen them with my own eyes? I cannot so much believe that I have now a pen in my hand, have a book before me, and am writing in it, as I do and ought to believe that I shall one day, and that ere long, be either in heaven or in hell; in the height of happiness, or the depth of misery. Beveridge.

Some, however, have ventured to call in question the reality of hell-torments, and the very existence of the place itself. But there is nothing so weak and impious as disputes on these points; for, unless men could satisfy their minds, that God cannot punish sin, or that he will not, it becomes a matter more presumptuous than becoming, to inquire the very particulars in which that punishment

shall consist. The Lord hath declared, that those "that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Here is sufficient account to certify every one of the certainty of the thing itself; and the fact itself being once admitted, the method may surely be well supposed, that it will be such as infinite wisdom, joined to infinite power, shall appoint and accomplish. Here let us rest-only following up the conviction with a prayer to Him that hath the keys of hell and death, that he will keep our souls from going down into hell, and preserve us unto his everlasting kingdom.

The Duration of Hell Torments.
Infinite years in torment shall I spend,
And never, never, never at an end ?
Ah! must I live in torturing despair,
As many years as atoms in the air?

When these are spent as many thousands more
As grains of sand that crowd the ebbing shore!
When these are done, as many yet behind
As leaves of forest shaken with the wind!
When these run out, as many on the march
As starry lamps that gild the spangled arch!
When these expire, as many millions more
As moments in the millions past before!
When all these doleful years are spent in pain,
And multiplied by myriads again,

Till numbers drown the thought; could I suppose
That then my wretched years were at a close,
This would afford some ease; but, ah! I shiver
To think upon the dreadful sound, FOR EVER!
The burning gulf, where I blaspheming lie,
Is time no more, but vast ETERNITY.

Dr. Hawker.

Printed by E. Bridgewater,
South Molton Street, London.

THE END.