A77813:8
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.
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.
To the Reader.
IT is sad to see how the most of men neglect their precious souls, turning their backs upon the glorious Gospel, and little minding a crucified Jesus, when in the mean while their bodies are well provided for, their estates much regarded, and the things of this present life are highly prized; as if the darling was of less value then a clod of earth, an immortal soul then a perishing body, a precious Saviour then unsatisfying creatures: Yea, though they have been often wooed with gracious entreaties, glorious promises, and fresh bleeding wounds to make choice of the better part, that shall never be taken from them, yet alas such influence hath this world and the pleasures ⟨image 3⟩of it, and such is the blindness of their understandings, that they continue still to hunt after those things which cannot profit, nor be a help to them in the worst hour; yea, that will prove no better then poison to their souls, and refuse that would be (if embraced) their happiness here, and their glory hereafter: such a strange stupidity hath seized upon the hearts of men, that they will venture the loss of their immortal souls for a few dying comforts; and will expose themselves to endless misery, for a moments mirth, and short-lived pleasures. But certainly a barn well fraught, a bag well filled, a back well clothed, and a body well fed, will prove but poor comforts when men come to dye, when death shall not only separate their souls from their bodies, but both from their comforts. What will it then avail them that they have gained much? Or what will they give in exchange ⟨image 3⟩for their souls? Be wise then (O Reader, to whose sight this may come) before it be too late, and thou repent, when repentance shall be hid from thine eyes; else it will be as a dagger to thine heart one day, to remember what a Christ, what a soul, what a heaven thou hast lost, for a few pleasures, a little mirth, a short enjoyment of this present world; yea, and that after many warnings, against many reproofs, and notwithstanding the many tenders of a full Christ, instead of those empty vanities, which thy soul closed with, hunted after, and would by no means be persuaded to part withal. No, but thou wouldest take thy time, and swim in this worlds delights, though thy soul thereby was drowned in perdition and destruction,