A77813:122
A few sighs from hell, or, The groans of a damned soul. Or, An…
A few sighs from hell, or, The groans of a damned soul. Or, An exposition of those words in the sixteenth of Luke, concerning the rich man and the beggar : wherein is discovered the lamentable state of the damned : their cries, their desires in their distresses, with the determination of God upon them. A good warning word to sinners, both old and young, to take into consideration betimes, and to seek by faith in Jesus Christ to avoid, lest they come into the same place of torment. Also a brief discourse touching the profitableness of the Scriptures for our instruction in the way of righteousness, according to the tendency of the said parable. / By that poor and contemptible servant of Jesus Christ, John Bunyan.A few sighs from hell, or, The groans of a damned soul. Or, An exposition of those words in the sixteenth of Luke, concerning the rich man and the beggar : wherein is discovered the lamentable state of the damned : their cries, their desires in their distresses, with the determination of God upon them. A good warning word to sinners, both old and young, to take into consideration betimes, and to seek by faith in Jesus Christ to avoid, lest they come into the same place of torment. Also a brief discourse touching the profitableness of the Scriptures for our instruction in the way of righteousness, according to the tendancy of the said parable. / By that poor and contemptible servant of Jesus Christ, John Bunyan.
London: printed by Ralph Wood for M. Wright, 1658
Title page typeset from the transcription.
A FEW Sighs from Hell: OR, The Groans of a damned Soul: OR, An Expo… › Verse 24
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
From these words, and he cried, we may observe, first, what a change the ungodly will have, when they come into hell. Where he saith, he cried; it is like he was laughing, jesting, jeering, drinking, mocking, swearing, cursing, prating, persecuting of the godly in his prosperity, among his filthy companions; ⟨p. 56⟩but now the case is otherwise; now he is in another frame; now his proud, stout, currish carriage is come down, as is clearly signified by these words, And he cried. Therefore by these words you may secondly observe, that the laughter of the ungodly will not last always, but will be sure to end in a cry. O no my friends, consider, you must have a change either here or in hell. If you be not new creatures, regenerate persons, new born babes in this world before you go hence, your note will be changed, you. conditions will be changed: for if you come into hell, you must cry. O did but the singing drunkards, when they are making merry on the Alebench think on this, that if they drop into hell they must cry, it would make them change their note, and cry, What shall I do, whither shall I go when I die? But as I said before, the devil, as he labours to get poor souls to follow their sins, so he labours also to keep the thoughts of eternal damnation out of their minds; and indeed these two things are so nearly linked together, that the devil cannot well get the soul to go on in sin with delight, unless he can keep the thoughts ⟨p. 57⟩of that terrible after-clap out of their minds. But let them know that it shall not always be thus with them; for if when they depart, they drop down into eternal destruction, they shall have such a sense of their sins, and the punishment due to the same, that it shall make them to cry. And he cried. O what an alteration will there be among the ungodly, when they go out of this world! it may be a fortnight or a month before their departure, they were light, stout, surly, drinking themselves drunk, slighting Gods people, mocking at goodness, and delighting in sin; following the world, seeking after riches, faring deliciously, keeping company with the bravest; but now they are dropped down into hell, they cry. A little while ago they were painting their faces, feeding their lusts, following their whores, robbing their neighbours, telling of lies, following of plays, and sports to pass away the time; but now they are in hell they do cry.