Devil and his Angels_; for as the Absence of the
Supreme Good is a compleat Hell, so the hated Company of the Deceiver,
who was the great Cause of his Ruine, must be a Subject of additional
Horror, and he will be always saying, as a _Scots_ Gentleman, who died
of his Excesses, said to the famous Dr. _P----_, who came to see him on
his Death-bed, but had been too much his Companion in his Life,

_O tu fundamenta jecisti------_

I would not treat the very Subject it self with any Indecency, nor do I
think my Opinion of that _Hell_, which I say consists in the Absence of
him, in whom is Heaven, one Jot less Solemn than theirs who believe it
all _Fire_ and _Brimstone_; but I must own, that to me nothing can be
more ridiculous than the Notions that we entertain and fill our Heads
with about _Hell_, and about the _Devil_'s being there tormenting of
Souls, broiling them upon Gridirons, hanging them up upon Hooks,
carrying them upon their Backs, and the like, with the several Pictures
of _Hell_, represented by a great Mouth with horrible Teeth, gaping like
a Cave on the Sides of a Mountain; suppose that appropriated to _Satan_
in the _Peak_, which indeed is not much unlike it, with a Stream of Fire
coming out of it, as there is of Water, and smaller Devils going and
coming continually in and out, to fetch and carry Souls the Lord knows
whither, and for the Lord knows what.

These Things, however intended for Terror, are indeed so ridiculous,
that the _Devil_ himself, to be sure, mocks at them, and a Man of Sense
can hardly refrain doing the like, only I avoid it, because I would not
give offence to weaker Heads.

However, I must not Compliment the Brains of other Men, at the Expence
of my own, or talk Nonsense because they can understand no other; I
think all these Notions and Representations of _Hell_ and of the
_Devil_, to be as prophane as they are ridiculous, and I ought no more
to talk prophanely than merrily of them.

Let us learn to talk of these Things then, as we should do; and as we
really cannot describe them to our Reason and Understanding, why should
we describe them to our Senses; we had, I think, much better not
describe them at all, that is to say, not attempt it: The blessed
Apostle St. _Paul_ was, as he said himself, carried up, or caught up
into the _third Heaven_, yet when he came down again, he could neither
tell what he heard or describe what he saw; all he could say of it was,
that what he heard