oracles which the holy fpirit of the Deity itfelf has dictated to him, acknowledges and proves it: "Whi"ther fhall I go," fays he," from thy fpirit? or "whither shall I flee from thy prefence? If I afcend "up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed "in hell, behold, thou art there t." After which authority, debate it with me if you dare.

NOR is this all: not content with honouring the regions of hell by his own immediate prefence, the Almighty has alfo willed, that his dear Son, our divine Saviour and Redeemer, fhould do it the fame honour; nay, that he should even abide there three days, and as many nights, before he should ascend to heaven; which was not to be opened to him but through this condition. Contend this truth with me: be foolish and inconfiderate enough to do fo: I shall, if so, refer you for conviction to that apoftolic creed, wherein you make, in plain terms, a profeffion of believing it ..

LASTLY, to prove to you that every thing which heaven contains, takes pleasure, and even glory, in travelling down to hell, I muft ftill farther tell you, and that from the authority of the whole Romish church, that Purgatory, which I before have demon

G. 6.

ftrated

+ Pfalm cxxxix. v. 7, 8.

He was crucified, dead, and buried, and de

fcended into hell.

ftrated to you is but the anti-chamber of hell, is daily haunted by the greatest faints, and the heavenly fpirits; fome of whom are continually coming and going to take away from thence and lead to heaven the fouls of finners, who either have stayed their time of penitence, or fhortened it, or totally abrogated it, by the great fums which they were wife enough at their deaths to leave to the priests for that intent; whilst others are fo kind as to take up their abode there, and with moft kind and charitable affiduity, comfort and refesh from time to time thofe poor unhappy fouls, who, for want of money for their ran fom, or fometimes from a want of the fame proper forefight, are, it is faid, condemned to remain and burn there for thousands of years; nay, for whole ages.

AND now, after all that I have here said to you; that I have proved to you beyond difpute; can you have still remaining the leaft hefitation against going into hell, where you fee there is fuch excellent company? They must indeed be hard to please, who cannot find their wishes gratified in an habitation which is almost the general rendezvous of all mankind: in an abode, where, amongst the millions of its inhabitants, are to be found by hundreds, perfonages who have made themfelves renowned and valued in the world; fome for their great learning, their excellent talents, and eminent knowledge; others for their prudence, their purity of manners, and fincerity of life : thefe for the luftre which their riches gave them, and

the

the noble ardor and thirst they fhewed in the purfuit of pleasures; thofe for heroic valour, for their great conquefts, and their unbounded extent of power: fome for their gallantry and beauty; and every one, in fhort, for fome great part of eminence they played whilft here on earth. Has Heaven any thing to place in counterbalance with these bright advantages? Alas! it is not inhabited but by the poor in mind, by the fimple, by idiots, and by children, or other people like them. A fine comparison indeed to make! Can it be aftonishing, after this, that fo many people prefer the kingdom of hell; and do things to gain it, which they would not be at the hundredth part of the trouble to obtain heaven?

Hell the most delightful place, as it is the very fountain of news and politics.

EOPLE of unbounded curiofity will find this

PO

as

place perfectly adapted to their humours, as they cannot find a more convenient place to their fatisfaction. Indeed it is not poffible but amongst all that innumerable multitude of fubjects, who are daily coming from the four corners of the earth, to people Lucifer's empire, but that there should daily

come

come- -What do I fay, daily?. Much rather every minute of the day the freshest news of every thing that is done here on earth; and which must give an infinite pleasure, as well to thofe who learn and liften to the news, as to thofe who bring them. I fpeak firft to those who hear them; for the mind of man is naturally curious and extremely fond of novelty. From thence it comes, that when we meet a friend or acquaintance, the firft thing which we commonly fay to them, after the ordinary civilities, is, Well, what news? A curiofity here upon earth fo infatiable, that it makes the fortune of the numerous train of news-writers, the amufement of news-mongers, and the principal occasion of thofe idle people who are called fpeculative politicians.

Now, as in hell, no one has any thing to do, I leave it to yourself to think with how much ardor they naturally run to find out all those who have but just arrived; nor have these on the other hand less defire to utter what they know as foon as demanded, For, as an old philofopher has said, "However plea"fing, however interefting any thing may be, it has no charm for me longer than whilft I have it in The fame my power to impart it to another." motive alfo induced Archytas of Tarentum, that noted aftronomer of antiquity, to fay, "That was it "poffible for a man to go up to heaven, to fee and "examine nearly the courses of the stars, and be in"formed of all the fabric, conduct, and wonderful

œconomy

œconomy of the univerfe, and should, when he "came back, not meet with any one to whom he

could relate what he had feen; I am perfuaded," continued this great man," he would regret his ha"ving made the journey."

IN fhort, man is for the most part fond of telling, not only what he has feen, but also what he has read, nay even what he has but heard faid; nor is he less defirous of hearing others do the same. Now that this pleasure is ever reciprocally imparted in hell, is an inconteftable truth, and what cannot in the leaft be doubted. Every one there is curious to know minutely what paffes here; nor are there wanting people to inform them every minute of the day or night; fo that it may be faid, that, notwithstanding the extreme heat of the climate, there is no country to which news come fresher than to this: by this way it was that the wicked rich man, whose ftory is related in the gospel, had learned the bad course his brethren led; and as charity reigns infinitely more in hell than on earth, it was for that reafon that he demanded permiffion to return, not to enjoy again the pleasures he had tafted in his lifetime, but only with a defign to work for their converfion and falvation.

WITH regard to news, I cannot help remarking by-the-bye, that the inhabitants of hell are infinitely better used to this article, than commonly we are in this world for to fay truth, the news which we fee

daily