Falls of eternal Despair is a late 19th Century Lithograph depicting the Land of Sin and the river of Death and its tributaries modeled after the Ten Commandments. After the Land is the plains of regeneration. Now separating these two areas is the Impenetrable hedge of sin. The only way through this hedge is the gate of repentance and faith. This is theologically relevant as in most traditional Christian teaching is that the only way to overcome sin is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. However there is another element I want to take a closer look at. That would be the physical placement of Heaven and Hell in the map. Hell on the bottom and Heaven on top; the parts I want to talk about are everything in between.
I would like to start with a detailed description of the picture of the map. this of course is divided into three main sections or at least I’m dividing them into three sections the first section is the one that the map focuses on the section where you are living separated from God living in sin. the second section would be the Regeneration planes where you’re not quite in either. while the third section aptly named the Holiness Heights and Heaven once you perish would be living with God according to God. now looking at the map geographically hell is at the bottom and Heaven is at the top now this is quite clear and apparent when you consider how most people think about it heaven is above the Earth we call the skies the heavens for a reason. and we often think of hell below us in the Earth so it is at the bottom and the Holiness Heights there is a mountain. and in that mountain and on the plateau next to it is the Holiness Heights The Heights is you are closer to God in heaven The Plains of regeneration are flat. and then you have the land of sin. now in the land of sin you have the river of death which is leading towards flowing towards the Falls of Eternal despair title of the map and over the falls is hell, death. an important thing to realize is that in the land of sin there are many tributaries all flowing into the river flowing down showing the more sin we engage in the farther and farther we flow down we are caught in the river Speeding faster and faster towards the falls and something we notice is that there are lighthouses in the land of sin lighthouses named on the map salvation lighthouses. These are points to help you realize the shore and to get out of the river of death.
Moreover in conclusion we find that this is highly telling of a deeply religious map maker who would have valued the map to Salvation above most other things and that’s what we see here In this map. moreover we see the symbolism throughout this map etched into it with my principal thing that the directions Heaven at the top and Hell on the bottom as you’re climbing a mountain to heaven.
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