changing places: namely, whē it is weary o•• lurking at home by the fires side within ye mountaine, it delighteth to be ranging abroad, & to venter to sea, but without a ship, & to gather it selfe round into morsels of yce. Come forth, & giue eare all ye yt wonder at this secret. Lo, I will afford these historiographers another addition of history very notable. Let them write therfore, that ye Islan∣ders haue not only hel within their iurisdiction, but also yt they enter into it willingly & wittingly, & come forth againe vntouched ye very same day. How can that be? Why: it is an ancient custome of the Island that they which inhabite neare the sea shoare do vsually go betimes in a morning to catch Seales, euen vpon the very same ise which the historiographers make to be hel, & in the eue∣ning returne home safe and sound. Set downe also (if ye please) that the prison of the damned is kept in store by the Islanders in coffers and vessels, as we shall anon heare out of Frisius.
But you had need wisely to foresee, lest y• Islanders beguile all your countries of the cōmenda∣tion of courage & constācy: namely, as they (for so it pleaseth your writers to report) who both can & will endure the torments of hell, & who are able to breake through & escape them, without any farther hurt: which thing is necessarily to be collected out of that, that hath bin before mentioned. And I am able to reckon vp a great many of our countrimen, who in ye very act of hunting, wan∣dring somewhat farre from the shoare (the ice being dispersed by westerne winds) & for the space of many leagues resting vpon the ice, being chased with the violence of the tempest, & some whole daies & nights being tossed vp & downe in the waues of ye raging sea, & so (for it followeth by good consequence out of this probleme of the historiographers) haue had experience of the torments, & paines of this hell of ice. Who at the last, the weather being changed, & the winds blowing at the North, being transported again to the shoare, in this their ship of ice, haue returned home in safety: some of which number are aliue at this day. Wherefore let such as be desirous of newes snatch vp this, & (if they please) let them frame a whole volume hereof, & adde it to their history. Neither do these vaine phantasies deserue otherwise to be handled & cōfuted, then with such like merimēts, & sportings. But to lay aside all iesting, let vs returne to the matter from whence we are digressed. First of all therfore it is euident enough out of the second section, y• ice floateth not about this I∣land, neither 8. nor 7. moneths in a yere: then, that this ice (although at some times by shuffling to∣gether it maketh monstrous soundings & cracklings, & againe at some times with the beating of the water, it sendeth forth an hoarse kind of murmuring) doth any thing at all resound or lament, like vnto mans voice, we may in no case confesse. But wheras they say that, both in the Isle, and in mount Hecla we appoint certaine places, wherin the soules of our countrimen are tormen∣ted, we vtterly stand to the deniall of that: and we thanke God & our Lord Iesus Christ from the botome of our hearts (who hath deliuered vs from death & hell, & opened vnto vs the gate of the kingdome of heauen) because he hath instruc••ed vs more truely, concerning the place, whether the soules of our deceased countrimen depart, then thes•• historiographers doe tell vs. We know and maintain that the soules of ye godly are transported immediatly out of their bodily prisons, not in∣to the Papists purgatory, nor into the Elysian fields, but into Abrahams bosome, into the hand of God, & into the heauenly paradise. We know & maintaine concerning the soules of the wicked, that they wander not into the fires & ashes of mountaines, or into visible ice, but immediatly are carried away into vtter darkenesse, where is weeping & gnashing of teeth, where there is colde also, & fire not cōmon, but far beyond our knowledge & curious disputation. Where not onely bo∣dies, but soules also, yt is spirituall substances are tormented. And we do also hold, yt the Islanders are no whit nearer vnto this extreame & darke prison, in regard of the situation of place, then the Germans, Danes, Frenchmen, Italians, or any other nation whatsoeuer. Neither is it any thing to the purpose, at all to dispute of the place or situation of this dungeon. It is sufficient for vs, that (by the grace and assistance of our Lord Iesus Christ, with whose precious blood we are redee∣med) we shall neuer see that vtter darknesse, nor feele the rest of the torments that be there. Now let vs here shut vp the disputation concerning the hell of Island.