Frightening Thought: Upon recently
stumbling across this vision of HELL I actually trembled at the fact that it
lines up with Mary K. Baxtors vision of HELL and many others.. Understand
this.. This vision was recorded back in 1654! Notice the references to "Gnawing Worms" Jesus warned of
this type worm and I can see why now.. HELL is not a game.. your salvation is
not a game.. consider ending up in this HOT, STINK, GNAWING WORM INFESTED
BURNING PIT of HELL! Count your costs.. I for one do not ever want to end up in
this gross dung infested sulfur PIT south of Heaven. This vision may seem
difficult to read being written in 1654.. Read the entire vision twice..
Meditate on this vision and try to imagine waking up in such kaos.
Upon an attempted suicide, John Bunyan was shown this vision of spiritual realms.
Bunyan (1628-1688), an English
author and preacher imprisoned for his faith, is best known for his work, The Pilgrim's Progress. Hovever, the work
quoted here, from Hell is Real,
compiled by Mrs. M. A. Daoud, is nonfiction.
Introduction
I kneeled down on the ground and said, "O
Thou invisible, eternal Power, which though unseen by men, beholdest all his actions,
and who has now withheld me from defacing Thine image, I give Thee humble
thanks. Yes, O, Thou sovereign BEING of all beings, I give Thee thanks that I
am still alive and able to acknowledge there is such a being. Oh, Let the Sun
of Glory shine upon me and chase away the blackness of my soul that I may never
more question Thy being or omnipotence, which I have this moment so greatly
experienced.
Then, rising from my knees, I sent and sat down on
a bank, my mind being greatly taken up with the adoring thoughts of that
Eternal Goodness that had saved me from the dreadful gulf of everlasting ruin
when I was just going to plunge myself into it. And now I could only wonder
that I should be such a fool as to call in question the being of the Deity which
every creature was witness of, and which a man's own conscience could not by
dictate him.
Now while my thoughts were taken up thus as I sat
upon the bank, I as suddenly surrounded with a glorious light, the exceeding
brightness of this was such as I had never seen anything like it before. This
both surprised and amazed, and while I was wondering whence it came, I saw
coming toward me a glorious appearance, like the person of a man, but circled
round about with beams of inexpressible light and glory, which streamed from
him all the way he came. His countenance was very awful, and yet mixed with
such an air of sweetness as rendered it extremely pleasing, and gave me some
secret hope that he came not to me as an enemy. And yet I knew not how to bear
his bright appearance; and endeavoring to stand upon my feet I soon found I had
not more strength in me, and so fell down flat on my face, by the kind
assistance of his arm, I was soon set upon my feet again and new strength was
put in me. Then I addressed myself to the bright form before me saying, "O
my shining deliverer, who hast strengthened my feeble body and restore me to
new life, how shall I acknowledge my thankfulness, and in what manner shall I
adore thee?"
To which he replied, both with an air of majesty and
mildness, "Pay thy adorations to the Author of thy being, and not to me
who am thy fellow-creature. I am sent by Him Whose very being thou has so
lately denied, to stop thee from falling into that eternal ruin whereinto thou
wert going to throw thyself."
This touched my heart with such a sense of my own
unworthiness that my soul melted within, and I could not forbear crying out,
"Oh, how utterly unworthy I am of all this grace and mercy!"
To this the heavenly messenger replied, "The
divine Majesty does not consult, in showing mercy, thine unworthiness, but His
Own unbounded goodness and vast love. He saw with how much malice the grand
enemy of souls desires thy ruin, and let him go on with hopes of overcoming
thee, but still upheld thee by His secret power; through which, when Satan
thought himself most sure, the snare is broken and thou are escaped."
Beyond The Sun and Stars
"Well," said this heavenly visitor with
a pleasing countenance, "that you may never doubt any more the reality of
eternal things, the end of my coming to you is to convince you of the truth of
then; not by faith only but by sight also. For I will show you such things as
were never yet beheld by mortal eye; and to that end your eyes shall be
strengthened and made fit to behold immaterial objects."
At these surprising words of the angel, I was much
astonished, and doubted how I should be able to bear it. I said to him, "O
my lord, who is sufficient to bear such a sight?"
To which he replied, "The joy of the Lord
shall be your strength." And when he had said thus, he took hold of me and
said, "Fear not; for I am sent to show the things thou hast not
seen." And before I was aware I found myself far above the earth, which
seemed to me a very small point in comparison with that region of light into
which I was translated.
Then I said to my bright conductor. "Oh, let
it not offend my lord if I ask a question or two of thee."
To this he answered, "Speak on. It is my work
to inform thee of such things which thou shalt inquire of me. For I am a
ministering spirit, sent forth to minister to thee and to those that shall be
heirs of salvation."
I then said, "I would fain be informed what
that dark spot, so far below me, is, which has grown less and less as I have
mounted higher and higher, and appears much darker since I have come into this
region of light."
"That little spot," answered my
conductor, "that now looks so dark and contemptible, is that world of
which you were so recently an inhabitant. Here you may see how little all that
world appears, for a small part of which, so many do continually labor, and lay
out all their strength and time to purchase it. Yea, this is that spot of
earth, to obtain one small part thereof so many men have run the hazard of
losing, nay, have actually lost their precious and immortal souls; so precious
that the Prince of Peace has told us that though one man could gain the whole,
it could not recompense so great a loss. And the great reason of their folly
is, that they do not look to things above. For as you ascended nearer to this
region, the world appeared still less and the more contemptible; and it will do
the same to all who can, by faith once get their hearts above it. For could the
sons of men below but see the world just as it is, they would not covet it as
they now do, but they, alas, are in a state of darkness; and which is worse,
they love to walk therein. For though the Prince of Light came down among them
and plainly showed them the true Light of Life, yet they go on in darkness and
will not bring themselves into the light, because their deeds are evil."
I asked him further, "What were those
multitudes of black and horrid forms that hover in the air above the world?
which indeed I would have been much afraid of, but that I saw, as you passed,
they fled; perhaps as not being able to abide the brightness with which you are
arrayed."
To this he answered me, "They were the fallen
and apostate spirits which for their pride and rebellion were cast down from
heaven and wander in the air by the decree of the Almighty, being bound in
chains of darkness and kept unto the judgement of the great day. From thence
they are permitted to descend into the world, both for the trial of the elect,
and for the condemnation of the wicked. And though you now see they have black
and horrid forms, yet they were once the sons of Light, and were arrayed in
robes of glorious brightness, like what you see me wear, the loss of which,
though it was the effect of their own willful sin, fills them with rage and
malice against the ever blessed God Whose power and majesty they fear and
hate."
"Tell me" I said, "O happy
conductor, have they no hopes of being reconciled to God again, after some term
of time, or at least some of them?"
"No, not at all. They are lost forever. They
were the first that sinned, and had no tempter; and they were all at once cast
down from heaven. Besides, the Son of God, the blessed Messiah by Whom
salvation can be had, took not upon Him the angelic nature, but left the
apostate angles all to perish, and took upon Himself only the seed of Abraham.
And for this reason they have so much malice against the sons of men, whom it
is a torment to them to see made
heirs of heaven while they are doomed to hell."
By this time we were above the sun whose vast and glorious
body, so much greater than the earth, moved round the great expanse wherein it
was placed with such a mighty swiftness that to relate it would appear
incredible. But my conductor told me this mighty immense hanging globe of fire
was one of the great works of God. It always keeps its constant course, and
never has the least irregularity in it daily or its annual motion; and so
exceeding glorious is its body that had not my eyes been greatly strengthened,
I could not have beheld it. Nor were those mighty globes of fire we call the
fixed stars. less wonderful; whose vast and extreme heights, so many leagues
above the sun, makes them appear like candles in our sight. And yet they hang
within their spheres without any support, in a pure sea of ether. Nothing like
but His Word that first created them could keep them in their station.
"These words are enough," I said to my
conductor, "to convince anyone of the great power of their much more
adorable Creator, and of the blackness of that infidelity which can call in
question the being of a Deity, who has given the whole world so many bright
evidences of His power, and glory, that if men were not like beast still
looking downwards, they could not help but acknowledge His great power and
wisdom."
"You speak what is true," replied he.
"But you shall see far greater things than these. These are all but the
scaffolds and outworks of that glorious building wherein the blessed above
inhabit that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, a view of which
(as far as you are capable to comprehend it) shall now be given you."
What I had been told by my conductor I found good
in a few moments, for I was presently transferred into the glorious mansions of
the blessed, and saw such things as it is impossible to represent and heard
that ravishing melodious harmony that I can never utter. Well, therefore, might
the beloved apostle John tell us in his epistle, "Now are we the sons of
God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be." Whoever has not seen that
glory can speak out very imperfectly of it, and they that have cannot tell the
thousandth part of what it is. And therefore the great apostle of the Gentiles,
who tells us he had been caught up into paradise, where he had heard
unspeakable works which is not possible for a man to utter, gives us no other
account of it, but that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it
entered into the heart of man to conceive they things that God has laid up for
those that love him." I will give you the best account I can of what I saw
and Heard of the blessed discourses I had with some of the blessed, as near as
I can remember.
Conducted to Hell
"I have," said the angel, "a
commission to re-conduct you to the world below; not only to the earth from
whence I took you, but to the regions of the prince of darkness, that you may
there see the reward of sin, and what incensed Justice has prepared as the just
judgment of their rebellion who would exalt themselves above the throne of the
Most High. But do not therefore be afraid, for as I have a commission to take
you thither so have I likewise to bring you back again, and leave you in the
world from whence I took you."
To leave heaven for earth was extremely
distasteful and would have rendered me unhappy but that I knew the divine will
was such. But to leave Heaven for hell was that which turned my very heart
within me. However, when I knew that it was the divine good pleasure that I
should be returned from thence to earth again, and there put off mortality, and
then be re-conducted up to heaven. I was a little comforted, and found within
myself as entire resignation to the will of God. Therefore I said with some
assurance to my bright conductor, "That which the blessed God has ordered
I shall be always willing to obey, of whose great mercy I have already had so
very large experience, that even in hell itself I will not fear, may I but have
His presence with me there."
To this my shining guardian answered me,
"Wherever the blessed God grants His presence, there is heaven, and while
we are in hell He will be with us."
Then bowing low before the Almighty's throne,
swifter then thought my guardian angel carried me more than ten thousand
leagues below the imperial heaven.
By this time we were come down to the lowest
regions of the air where I saw multitudes of horrid forms and dismal dark
appearances fly from the shining presence of my bright conductor.
"These sure," said I, "are some of
the vanguard of hell, so black and so affrighting are their forms."
"These are," said my conductor,
"some of the apostate spirits that wander up and down in the air and on
the earth like roaring lions seeking whom they may devour. And though they are
led hence you will see them quickly in their own dark territories, for we are
now upon the borders of the infernal pit."
I quickly found the words of my conductor very
true; for we were soon surrounded with a darkness much more black than night,
which was attended with a stink
more suffocating far than that of burning brimstone; my ears were likewise filled
with horrid yellings of the damned spirits, that all the most discordant notes
on earth were, in comparison of this, melodious music.
"Now," said my guardian angel, "you
are one the verge of hell, but do not fear the power of the destroyer, for my
commission from the Imperial Throne secures you from all dangers. Here you may
hear from devils and damned souls the cursed causes of their endless ruin. And
what you have a mind to ask, inquire, and they shall answer you. The devils
cannot hurt you, though they would, for they are bound by Him that has
commissioned me, of which themselves are sensible, which makes them rage and
fret and roar and bite their hated chains, but all in vain."
There, in a sulphurous lake of liquid fire, bound
with the adamantine chain of heaven's fixed decree, sat Lucifer upon a burning
throne, his horrid eyes sparkling with hellish fury, as full of rage as his
strong pains could make him. Those wandering fiends, that as we came from
heaven fled before us, had (I perceived) given notice of our coming, which put
all hell in an uproar and thus made Lucifer to vent his horrid blasphemies
against the blessed God, which he delivered with an air of arrogance and pride.
I was amazed to hear his impious speech, and could
not forbear saying to my conductor, "How justly are his blasphemies
rewarded!"
"What you have heard from this apostate
spirit is both his sin and punishment; for every blasphemy he belches against
heaven, makes hell the hotter to him."
Tortures of Hell
We then passed on further, among dismal scenes of
unmixed sorrow, and saw two wretched souls tormented by a fiend who without
ceasing plunged them in liquid fire and burning brimstone, while they at the
same time accused and cursed each other.
One of them said to his tormented fellow sufferer,
"O cursed be your face, that ever I set eyes upon you! My misery is due to
you; I may thank you for this, for it was you who ensnared me thus. It was your
covetousness and cheating and your oppression and grinding of the poor that brought
me hither. If you had but set me a good example as you did an ill one, I might
have been in heaven, and there have been as happy as I am now miserable. But, O
wretch that I was! My following your steps has made me in this wretched state
and ruined me forever; O that I never had seen your face, or you had never been
born to do my soul that wrong that you have done."
The other wretch replied, "And may I not as
well blame you? For do you not remember how at such a time and place you did
entice me and drew me out and asked me if I would not go along with you, when I
was about my other business, about my lawful calling? But you called me away,
and therefore are as much in fault as I. Though I was covetous, yet you were
proud, and if you learned of me your covetousness, I am sure I learned of you
my pride and drunkenness; and though you learned of me to cheat, yet you taught
me to lust, to lie, and scoff at goodness.
"Thus, though I stumbled you in some things,
you stumbled me as much in others; and therefore if you blame me, I can blame
you as much. And if I have to answer for some of your most filthy actions, you
have still to answer for some of mine. I wish you never had come hither; the
very looks of you do wound my soul, by bringing sin afresh into my mind. It was
with you, with you it was I sinned. O grief unto my soul! And since I could not
shun your company there. O that I could have been without it here!"
From this sad dialogue I soon perceived that those
who are companions upon earth in sin shall be so too in hell in punishment. And
though on earth they love each other's company, they will not care for it in
hell. This, I believe was the true reason why Dives seemed so charitable to his
brethren, that they might not come into this place of torment; it was love unto himself and not to them that was his
motive; because had they come hither, his torments would have thereby been
increased.
But there were yet more tragic scenes of sorrow,
for leaving these two cursed wretches, accusing each other for being authors of
each other's misery, we passed on further, beholding several woeful spectacles;
and among others, one who still had flaming sulphur forced down her throat by a
tormenting spirit; which he did with such horrid cruelty and insolence I could
not but say to him, "Why should you so delight in the tormenting of that
cursed wretch as to be thus perpetually pouring that flaming, infernal liquor
down her throat?"
"This is no more but a just
retribution," replied the fiend. "This woman in her life time was
such a sordid wretch that though she had gold enough, could never be satisfied,
and therefore now I pour it down her throat. She cared not who she ruined and
undid, so she could get their gold. And when she had amassed together a greater
treasure than ever she could spend, her love of money would not let her spend
so much of it as to supply herself with what the common necessities of life
required; for she then went often with an empty stomach, though her bags were
full, or else she filled it at another's charge. And as for her apparel, it
either never grew old or it was always so supplied with patches that at last it
was hard to say which piece was on original. She kept no house because she
would not be taxed; nor keep her treasure in her hands for hear she should be
robbed; nor let it out on bands and mortgages for fear of being cheated;
although she ever cheated all she could, and was herself so great a cheat she
cheated her own body of its food and her own soul of mercy. Since gold then was
her god on earth, is it not just that she should have her belly full in
hell?"
When her tormentor had done speaking, I asked her
whether what he said was true or not. To this he answered me, "No, to my
grief it is not." "How! to your grief?" said I.
"Yes, to my grief," said she.
"Because were that which my tormentor tell you true, I should be better
satisfied. He tells you that it is gold that he pours down my throat; but he is
a lying devil and speaks falsely. Were it but gold I never should complain. But
he abuses me, and in the stead of gold he only gives the horrid, stinking sulphur."
I could not forbear telling my conductor I was
amazed to hear a wretch in hell itself so to dote upon her riches and that too,
while in the tormentor's hands.
"This may," said he, "convince you
it is sin that is the greatest of all evils; and where love of that prevails -
the love of gold (to which this cursed creature is given up) is a more fatal
punishment than that which the apostate spirits here inflict on her."
We had not come much farther before we saw a
wretched soul lie on a bed of burning steel, almost choked with brimstone; who
cried out as one under a dreadful anguish, with a note of desperation; which
made me desire of my conductor to stay a while that I might listen more
attentively to what he said and hereupon I heard him speak as follows:
"Ah, miserable wretch! Undone for ever, for
ever! Oh, these killing words for ever! Will not a thousand thousand years
suffice to bear that pain which if I could avoid it I would not bear one moment
for a thousand thousand worlds? No, no my misery will never have an end; after
the thousand thousand years it will be for ever still. On, hapless, helpless,
hopeless state indeed! It is this forever that is the hell of hell! O cursed
wretch! Cursed to all eternity! How willfully have I undone myself? Oh, what
stupendous folly am I guilty of to choose sin's short and momentary pleasure at
the dear price of everlasting pain! How oft have I been told it would be so!
How often pressed to leave those paths of sin that would be sure to bring be to
the chambers of eternal death! But I, like the deaf adder, lent no ear unto
those charmers though they charmed so wisely. They told me often that my short-lived
pleasures would quickly issue in eternal pain; and now too sad experience tells
me so, it tells me so indeed, but it is too late to help it for my eternal
state is fixed for ever.
"Why had reason been given me? Why was I made
with an immortal soul, and yet should take so little care of it? Oh, how my own
neglect stings me to death, and yet I know I cannot, I must not die! But live a
dying life, worse than ten thousand deaths; and yet I might once have helped
all this and would not! Oh, that is the gnawing
worm that never dies! I might once have been happy, salvation once was
offered me and I refused it. Ah, had it been but once, yet to refuse it had
been a folly not to be forgiven, but it was offered to me a thousand times, and
yet (wretch that I was) I still as often refused it. O cursed sin, that with
deluding pleasures bewitches mankind to eternal ruin! God often called, but I
as often refused; He stretched out His hands, but I would not mind it. How
often have I set at nought His counsel. How often have I refused His reproof!
But now the scene is changed, the case is altered; for now He laughs at my
calamity, and mocks at the destruction which is come upon me." He would
have helped me once, but then I would not, and therefore those eternal miseries
I am condemned to undergo are but the just reward of my own doing." [Proverbs 1:26]
I could not hear this doleful lamentation without
reflecting on the wondrous grace that ever blessed GOD has shown to me; eternal
praises to His holy name! For my heart told me that I had deserved as much as
that sad wretch to be the object of eternal wrath; and it is His grace alone
that has made us differ! O how unsearchable His counsels be! and who can fathom
His divine decree?
After these reflections, I addressed myself to the
doleful complainer, and told him I had heard his woeful lamentation, by which I
perceived his misery was great, and his loss irreparable; and told him I would
willingly be informed of it more particularly, which might possibly be some
lessening of his sufferings.
"No, not at all; pains are such as can admit
of no relief, no not for one small moment. But by the question you have asked,
I do perceive you are a stranger here; and may you ever be so. Ah! had I but
the last hope still remaining, how would I kneel and cry and pray forever to be
redeemed from hence! But ah! it is all in vain, I am lost forever. Though that
you may beware of coming hither, I will tell you what the damned suffer
here."
A Lost Soul Speaks
"Our miseries in this infernal dungeon are of
two sorts; what we have lost, and what we undergo. And these I will name under
their several heads. First then for what we have lost.
And first, we undergo variety of torments:
we are tormented here a thousand, nay, ten thousand different ways. They that
are most afflicted upon earth have seldom any more than one malady at a time.
But should they have the plague, the gout, the stone, and fever at a time, how
miserable would they think themselves? Yet all those are but like the biting of
a flea to those intolerable, pungent pains that we endure. Here we have all the
loathed variety of hell to grapple with. Here is a fire that is unquenchable to
burn us with; a lake of burning brimstone ever choking us; eternal chain to tie
us; here is utter darkness to affright us, and a worm of conscience that gnaws
upon us everlastingly. And any one of these is worse to bear than all the
torments mankind ever felt on earth.
But as our torments here are various, so
are they universal, too, afflicting each part of the body, tormenting the
powers of the soul, which renders what we suffer most unsufferable. In those
illnesses you men are seized with on earth, though some parts are afflicted,
other parts are free. Although your body may be out of order, your head may yet
be well; and though your head be ill, your vitals may be free; or though your
vitals be affected, your arms and legs may still be clear. But here it is
otherwise: each member of the soul and body is at once tormented.
The eye is here tormented with the sight of
the devil's who do appear in all the horrid shapes and black appearances that
sin can give them. The ear is continually tormented with the loud yellings and
continual outcries of the damned. The nostrils smothered with sulphurous
flames; the tongue with burning blisters; and the whole body rolled in flames
of liquid fire. And all the powers and faculties of our souls are here
tormented. The imagination, with the thoughts of the present pain; the memory
lost with reflecting on what a heaven we have lost, and of those opportunities
we had of being saved. Our minds are here tormented with considering how vainly
we have spent our precious time, and how we have abused it. Our understanding
is tormented in the thoughts of our past pleasures, present pains, and future
sorrows, which are to last for ever. And our consciences are tormented with a
continual gnawing worm.
Another thing that makes our misery awful
is the extremity of our torments. The fire that burns us is so violent that all
the water in the sea can never quench it. The pains we suffer here are so
extreme that it is impossible they should be known by any one but those that
feel them.
Another part of our misery is the ceaselessness
of our torments. As various, as universal, and as extremely violent as they
are, they are continual, too. Nor have we the least rest from them. If there
were any relaxation, it might be some allay. But this makes our condition so
deplorable that there is no easing of our torments, but what we suffer now we
must for ever suffer.
This wretched soul had scarcely made an end
of what he was saying before he was afresh tormented by a hellish fury, who bid
him cease complaining, for it was in vain. "Besides," said he,
"do you know you have deserved it all? How often were you told of this
before, but would not then believe it? You laughed at them that told you of a
hell; nay you were so presumptuous to dare Almighty Justice to destroy you! How
often have you called on God to damn you. Do you complain that you are answered
according to your wishes? What an unreasonable thing is this that you should
call so often for damnation, and yet be so uneasy under it. You know yourself
you had salvation offered you, and you refused it; with what face then can you
complain of being damned? I have more reason to complain than you, but I was
turned into hell as soon as I sinned. You had salvation offered you, and pardon
and forgiveness often tendered you; but I never had any mercy offered me but
was consigned as soon as I had sinned to everlasting punishment. If I had had
the offer of salvation I never would have slighted it as you have done. And it
had been better for you that you had never had the offer of it either; for then
damnation would have been easier to you. Who do you think should pity you that
would be damned in spite of heaven itself?"
This made the wretch cry out, "Oh, do not
thus continue to torment me. I know that my destruction is of myself. Oh, that
I could forget it! The thoughts of that is here my greatest plague. I would be
damned, and therefore justly am so."
Then turning to the fiend that tortured him he
said, "But it was through thy temptations, cursed devil. It was thou that
tempted me to all the sins I have been guilty of, and dost thou now upbraid me?
You say you never had a Savior offered you; but you should call to mind you
never had a tempter either, as I have had continually of thee."
To this the devil scornfully replied, "I own
it was my business to decoy you hither! and you have often been told so by your
preachers. They told you plainly enough we sought your ruin, and went about
continually like roaring lions, seeking whom we could devour; and I was oft
afraid you would believe them, as several did, to our great disappointment. But
you were willing to do what we would have you, and since you have done our
work, it is but reasonable that we should pay you wages." And then the
fiend tormented him afresh, which caused him to roar out so horribly I could no
longer stay to hear him.
"How dismal," said I then to my
conductor, "is the condition of these damned souls. They are the devil's
slaves while upon the earth, and he upbraids and then torments them for it when
they come to hell."
"Their malice against all the race of
Adam," said my conductor, "is exceeding great. And because many souls
are ignorant of their devices, they easily prevail upon them to their eternal
ruin. And how they treat them here, for listening to their temptations, you
have seen already and will see more of it quickly."
Passing a little further we saw a multitude of
damned souls together, gnashing their teeth with extreme rage and pain, while
the tormenting fiends with hellish fury poured liquid fire and brimstone
continually upon them. They, in the meantime, cursing God themselves, and those
about them, in blaspheming after a tremendous manner. I could not forbear
asking of one fiend that so tormented them who they were that he used so
cruelly?
Said he, "They are those that very well
deserve it. These are those cursed wretches that would teach others the right
road to heaven, while yet themselves were so in love with hell that they came
hither. These are those souls that have been the great factors of hell upon the
earth, and therefore do deserve a particular regard in hell. We use our utmost
diligence to give every one their utmost share of torments, but will be sure to
take care these shall not want; for these have not only their own sins to
answer for, but all those, too, whom they have led astray both by their
doctrine and example."
"Since they have been such great factors for
hell, as you say, methinks gratitude should oblige you to use them a little
more kindly."
To this the impudent fiend answered me in a
scoffing manner. "They that expect gratitude among devils will find
themselves mistaken. Gratitude is a virtue, but we hate all virtue and profess
an immortal enmity against it. Beside, we hate all mankind, and were it in our
power not one of them should be happy. It is true we do not tell them so upon
earth because there it is our business to flatter and delude them. But when we
have them here where they are fast enough (for from hell there is no
redemption) we soon convince them of their folly in believing us."
From the discourse I had heard of this and other
of the devils, I could not but reflect that it is infinite and unspeakable
grace by which any poor sinners are brought to heaven, considering how many
snares and baits are laid by the enemy of souls to entrap them by the way; and
therefore it is a work well worthy of the blessed Son of God to save His people
from their sins, and to deliver them from the wrath to come. But it is an
unaccountable folly and madness in men to refuse the offers of His grace, and
to close in with the destroyer.
Going on a little farther, I heard a wretch
complaining in a heartbreaking strain against those men that had betrayed him
hither.
"I was told," said he, "by those
that I depended on and thought could have informed me right, that if I said but
'Lord, have mercy on me', when I came to die it would be enough to save me. But
oh, wretchedly I find myself mistaken, to my eternal sorrow! Alas, I called for
mercy on my deathbed, but found it was too late. This cursed devil here that
told me just before that I was safe enough, then told me it was too late and
hell must be my portion."
"You see I told you true at last," said
the devil, "and then you would not believe me. A very pretty business is
it not, think you? You spend your days in the pursuit of sin, and wallow in
your filthiness, and you would go to heaven when you die! Would any but a
madman think that would ever do? No! he that in good earnest does intend to go
to heaven when he dies must walk in the ways of holiness and virtue while he
lives. You say some of your lewd companions told you that saying, 'Lord, have
mercy of me' when you came to die would be enough. A very fine excuse! You
might have known, if you'd given yourself but leisure to have read the Bible
that 'Without holiness there is none shall see the Lord.' Therefore this is the
sum of the matter. You were willing to live in you sins as long as you could,
you did not leave them at last because you did not like them, but because you
could follow them no longer. And this you know to be true. And could you have
the impudence to think to go to heaven with the love of sin in your heart? No,
no, no such matter. You have been warned often enough that you should take heed
of being deceived, for God would not be mocked, but such as you sowed you
should also reap. So that you have no reason to complain of any thing but your
own folly, which you now see too late."
"This lecture of the devil was a very cutting
one to the poor tormented wretch," said my conductor, "and contains
the true case of many now on earth as well as those in hell. But oh, what a far
different judgment do they make in this sad state from what they did on
earth."
"The reason for this is," replied my
guardian angel, "that they will not allow themselves to think what the
effect of sin will be, nor what an evil it is, while upon the earth. It is an
inconsideration that is the ruin of so many thousands, who think not what they
are doing, nor where they are going until it is too late to help it."
An Atheist in Hell
We had not gone much farther on before we heard
another tormenting himself and increasing his own misery by thinking of the
happiness of blessed souls.
We were diverted from giving any further ear unto
these stinging self-reflections of this poor lost creature by seeing a vast
number of tormenting fiends lashing incessantly a numerous company of wretched
souls with knotted whips of ever burning steel while they roared out with cries
so very piercing and so lamentable I thought it might have melted even cruelty
itself into some pity, which made me say to one of the tormentors, "Oh,
stay your hand, and do not use such cruelty as this is to them who are your
fellow creatures, and whom perhaps you have yourselves betrayed to all this
misery."
"No," answered the tormentor very
smoothly, "though we are bad enough, no devil ever was a bad as they, nor
guilty of such crimes as they have been. For we all know there is a God,
although we hate Him! but these are such as never could be brought to own (till
they came hither) that there was such a Being."
"Then these," said I, "are atheists,
a wretched sort of men indeed, and who once wanted to ruin me, had not eternal
grace prevented it."
I had no sooner spoken, when one of the tormented
wretches cried out with a sad mournful accent, "Sure, I should know that
voice. It must be Epenetus."
I was amazed to hear my name mentioned by one of
the infernal crew; and therefore being desirous to know what it was, I
answered, "Yes, I am Epenetus. But who are you in that sad lost condition
that knows me?"
To this the lost unknown replied, "I was once
well acquainted with you upon earth and had almost persuaded you to be of my
opinion. I am the author of the celebrated book so well known by the title of
'Leviathan.'"
"What! the great Hobbs?" I said.
"Are you come hither? Your voice is so much changed I did not know
it."
"Alas," replied he, "I am that
unhappy man indeed. But so far from being great that I am one of the most
wretched persons in all these sooty territories. Nor is it any wonder that my
voice is changed; for I am now changed in my principles, though changed too
late to do me any good. For now I know there is a God. But oh! I wish that
there were not, for I am sure He will have no mercy on me. Nor is there any
reason that He should. I do confess I was His foe on earth, but now He is mine in
hell. It is that wretched confidence I had in my own wisdom that has thus
betrayed me."
"Your case is miserable, and yet you needs
must own you suffer justly. For how industrious were you to persuade others,
and so involve them in the same damnation. None has more reason to know this
than I, who had almost been taken in the snare and perished forever."
"It is that," said he, "that stings
me to the heart to think how many perish by my means. I was afraid when first I
heard your voice that you had likewise been consigned to punishment. Not that I
can wish any person happy, for it is my plague to think that many are so while
I am miserable; but because every soul that is brought hither through by
seduction while I was on earth, doubles my pain in hell."
"But tell me, for I fain would be informed
and you can do it. Did you indeed believe when upon earth, there was no God?
Could you imagine that the world could make itself? And that the creatures were
the causes of their own production? Had you no secret whispers in your soul
that told you it was another made you and not you yourself? And had you never
any doubts about this matter? I have often heard it said that though there are
many who profess there is no God, there is not one that thinks so; and it would
be strange there should, because there is none but carry in their bosom a
witness for that God whom they deny. Now you can tell whether it is so or no,
for you have now no reason to conceal you sentiments."
"Nor will I, Epenetus," answered he.
"Although the thoughts thereof sting me afresh, I did at first believe
there was a God, but falling afterwards to vicious courses, which rendered me
open to His wrath, I had some secret wishes there was none. For it is
impossible to think there is a God, and not withal to think Him just and
righteous, and consequently that He is obliged to punish the transgressors of
His law. And being I was conscious of myself as obnoxious to His justice, it
made me hate Him, and wish that there was no such Being. But still pursing the
same vicious courses, and finding justice did not overtake me, I then began to
hope there was no God; and from those hopes began to frame in my own breast
ideas suitable to what I hoped. And having thus in my own thoughts framed a new
system of the world's origin, excluding thence the being of a Deity, I found
myself so fond of these new notions that I at last prevailed upon myself to
give them credit, and then endeavored to fasten the belief of them on others.
But before I came to such a height as this, I do acknowledge that I found
several checks in my own conscience for what I did, and all along was now and
then troubled with some strange uneasy thoughts, as if I should not find all
right at last; which I endeavored to put off, as much as in me lay. And now I
find those checking thoughts that might have been of service to me then are
here the things that most of all torment me. And I must own the love of sin
hardened my heart against the Maker, and made me hate Him first, and then deny
His being. Sin, that I hugged so close within my bosom, has been the cursed
cause of all this woe; the serpent that has stung my soul to death. For now I
find, in spite of my vain philosophy, there is a God. I find, too, now that God
will not be mocked, although it was my daily practice in the world to mock at
heaven and ridicule whatever things are sacred, which were the means I used to
spread abroad my cursed notions, which I always found very successful. For
those I could but get to ridicule oracles I always looked upon to be in a fair
way to become disciples. But now the thoughts thereof are more tormenting to me
than all the torments I sustain by whips of burning steel."
Fire and Darkness
"I would ask another question. I heard
yourself and others cry out of burning steel and fire and flames; and yet I
cannot discern it. Where there is fire there just be some degree of light; and
yet from what appears to me you are still in utter darkness."
"O that I could but say I felt no fire! How
easy would my torments be to that which I now find them! But alas, the fire
that we endure ten thousand times exceeds all culinary fire in fierceness; and
is of quite a different nature from it. There is no light at all attends it, as
goes upon such fire as burns upon earth. But not withstanding all the fire in
hell, we are in utter darkness. But then the fire you burn on earth is of a
preying and devouring nature; for whatsoever it takes hold of it consumes to
ashes; and when it meets with no more fuel it goes out. But here it is not so.
For though it burns with that tremendous fierceness, which none but those that
feel it know, yet does it not consume, not never will. We shall ever be
burning, yet not burned. It is a tormenting, but not a consuming fire. Here the
fire seizes upon our souls and puts them into pain so tormenting as cannot be
expressed. It was my ignorance of this when upon earth that made me ridicule
the notion of immaterial substances being burned by fire; which here, to my own
cost, I find too true. And then another difference betwixt the fire that burns
us here and that which burns on the earth is this, that you can kindle that
whenever you please and quench it when you will. But here it is otherwise; this
fire is like to a stream of brimstone and it burns for ever. And this is what I
have to answer to the last sad question that you asked me."
"Sad indeed," said I. "See what
Almighty Power can inflict on those that violate His righteous law." I was
making some further observation on what I heard, when the relentless fiend who
was before tormenting them, thus interrupted me.
"You see by him what sort of men they were
when in the world; and do you not think that they deserve the punishment they
undergo?"
To which I answered. "Doubtless it is the
just reward of sin which now they suffer, and which hereafter you shall suffer
too; for you, as well as they, have sinned against the ever blessed God, and
for your sin shall suffer the just vengeance of eternal fire. Nor is it in the
least any excuse to say you never doubted the being of a God; for though you
knew there was a God, yet you rebelled against Him, and therefore shall be
justly punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of His power."
To this the fiend replied, "It is true we know
we shall be punished as thou hast said. But if it be a reason why mankind
should have pity showed them, because they fell through the temptations of the
devil, it is the same case with me and all the rest of the inferior spirits for
we are tempted by the Bright Sun of the Morning to take part with him. And
therefore, though this aggravates the crime of Lucifer, it should extenuate
that of inferior spirits."
To this my bright conductor, who had not spoken to
them since my coming thither, thus replied with a stern angry countenance.
"O thou apostate, wicked, lying spirit! Canst
thou affirm those things and see me here? Dost thou not know it was thy proud
heart made thee take part with Lucifer against the blessed God who had created
thee a glorious creature? But priding of thyself in thy own beauty thou wouldst
have been above thy blessed Creator, and wert ready to take part with Lucifer,
and justly art with him cast down to hell; and thy former comeliness and beauty
changed to that horrid monstrous form in which thou now appearest, as the just
punishment of thy rebellious pride."
To this the apostate spirit only said, "Why
dost thou thus invade our territories, and come here to torment us before our
time?" And when he had said thus, slunk away, as if he durst not stay to
have an answer.
"I have observed," said I, "that
all of them complain most of the torment that arises from their own sense of
guilt, which justifies the justice of the punishment. This gloomy prison is the
best glass to behold sin in its most proper colors; for were there not the
greatest malignity in sin, it would not be rewarded with so extreme a
punishment."
"Your inference is very natural. But there is
yet a better glass than this to se the just demerits due to sin; and that is by
contemplation to behold the blessed Son of God upon the cross. There we may see
the dire effects of sin. There we may see its true malignity. For all this
sufferings of the damned here are but the sufferings of creatures still; but on
the cross you see a suffering God."
"Surely," said I, "justice and
mercy did never so triumph and kiss each other as in that fatal hour. For
justice here was fully satisfied in the just punishment of sin; and mercy
triumphed and was pleased because hereby salvation for poor sinners was
affected. And oh, eternal praises to His holy name for ever, that His grace has
made me willing to accept this salvation, and thereby to become an heir of
glory, for I remember some of those lost wretches here have in their bitter
lamentation urged that when salvation has been offered them, they refused it.
It was therefore grace alone that helped me to accept it."
My shining guardian told me hereupon that he must
now conduct me to the earth again, and leave me there to wait with faith and
patience till my expected happy change should come. "Come then," said
he, "and let us leave these realms of woe and horror to the possession of
their black inhabitants."
And in a very little space of time I found myself
on earth again, and in that very place where I designed to have committed that
black sin of being my own murderer, overcome by the temptations of the devil,
who had persuaded me there was no God. But what was it was that I came thither,
I am not at all able to determine. As soon as I was by the bank that I before
had sat on, the bright appearance by whom I had been all along conducted, said
to me, "Now, Epenetus, you know where you are, and I must stay no longer
with you now, I have another ministration to attend. Praise
Him that sits upon the throne forever, who has all power in heaven, earth, and
hell for all the wonders of His love and grace, that He has shown you in so
short a space."
As I was going to reply to him, my bright
conductor disappeared, and I was left alone, And having for some time
considered the amazing visions I had seen, and the wondrous things that I had
heard, I scarce believed I was again on earth, nor did I know what time it was
I had been absent. I kneeled down and prayed that I might never lose a lovely
sense of all those wondrous things that had been shown me, and then rose up
again, blessing and praising God for all His goodness.
Being returned unto my house my family was much
surprised to see my countenance strangely changed and looked upon me as if they
scarce had know me, I asked them what the meaning was of their unusual
admiration. They answered that it was the change in my face that caused it.
"In what respect," said I, "is it that I am altered so?"
They told me, "Yesterday your looks were so
extremely clouded and cast down you seemed the very image of despair; but now
your face appears abundantly more beautiful and carries all the marks of
perfect joy and satisfaction of it."
"If you had seen," said I, "what I
have seen today, you would not wonder at the change you see." Then going
into my closet I took my pen and ink and there wrote down what I had heard and
seen, declaring the whole vision from first to last. All which I hope may have
the same effect on those that read them as they had on me in writing them."
God Gets The Glory! |
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