Wesley Corpus

5. And in hell he lifted up his eyes." -- O, what a change! How is the mighty fallen! But the word which is here rendered hell does not always mean the place of the damned. It is, literally, the invisible world; and is of very wide extent, including the receptacle of separate spirits, whether good or bad. But here it evidently means, that region of hades where the souls of wicked men reside, as appears from the following words, "Being in torment;" -- "in order," say some, "to atone for the sins committed while in the body, as well as to purify the soul from all its inherent sin." Just so, the eminent heathen poet, near two thousand years ago: -- Necesse est Multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris, Ergo exercentur poenis -- -- Aliae panduntur inanes Suspensae ad ventos: Aliis sub gurgite vasto Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni. [This quotation from Virgil (Aeneid vi.737-742) is thus translated by Pitt: "Ev'n when those bodies are to death resign'd, Some old inherent spots are left behind; A sullying tincture of corporeal stains Deep in the substance of the soul remains. Thus are her splendours dimm'd, and crusted o'er With those dark vices that she knew before. For this the souls a various penance pay, To purge the taint of former crimes away. Some in the sweeping breezes are refined, And hung on high to whiten in the wind: Some cleanse their stains beneath the gushing streams, And some rise glorious from the searching flames." -- Edit.] See the near resemblance between the ancient and the modern purgatory! Only in the ancient, the heathen purgatory, both fire, water, and air, were employed in expiating sin, and purifying the soul; whereas in the mystic purgatory, fire alone is supposed sufficient both to purge and expiate. Vain hope! No suffering, but that of Christ, has any power to expiate sin; and no fire, but that of love, can purify the soul, either in time or in eternity.