Sheol, Hades, Tartarus and Gehenna, Translated Hell
An argument refuting the doctrine of endless misery in hell, by Walter Balfour. Printed in 1824. Revised & reprinted in 1854 by Otis A. Skinner, includes essays and notes.
“If this parable puts it out of all question that in Hades, Sheol, there is a place of torment, then other passages put it out of all question that our Lord believed in demons; in an evil being called Satan; in ghosts; and that the sacred writers believed in witchcraft. Did not Jesus often speak of demons as real beings? Did he not speak as if Satan had bound a woman eighteen years with an infirmity? And are not ghosts and witchcraft spoken of as realities? Now, if it is said in these cases the writers only speak in accommodation to popular opinions, the same must be said respecting the parable in question. There is no escape here but by boldly affirming they are all realities. But Mr. Stuart must then abandon his scepticism about ghosts; for is not his Tartarus a deep region beneath peopled with ghosts? The evidence is fifty times more that demons are real beings, than that Hades is a place of torment; and yet, I question if he believes in demons.”