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 fictional work, The Pilgrim's Progress. However, the excerpts quoted below, from Visions of Heaven and Hell, is NON-FICTION.
In hell, Bunyan saw a woman having flaming sulphur forced down her throat by a tormenting spirit. The spirit did so with such horrible cruelty that Bunyan could not help but say to it: “Why do you delight in the tormenting of that cursed wretch that you perpetually pour that flaming, infernal liquor down her throat?” The dialogue that ensued is as follows:
The fiend replied, "This is nothing more than just retribution. This woman in her life time was such a sordid wretch that though she had gold enough, she could never be satisfied and therefore I pour it down her throat. She didn't care who she ruined and undid so that she could get their gold. And when she had amassed a great treasure than ever she could spend, her love of money would not allow her spend it except to supply herself with the common necessities of life. She often had an empty stomach, although her bags were full, or else she filled her stomach at another's expense. And as for her clothes, they either never grew old or they were always patched until it was hard to say which piece was on originally. She had no house because she didn't want to be taxed; nor did she keep her treasure in her hands because she feared she would be robbed; nor would she let it out on bonds and mortgages out of fear of being cheated. Although she cheated all that she could, and she herself was such a great cheat that she cheated her own body of food and her own soul of mercy. Since gold was her god on Earth, is it not just that she should have her belly full of it in hell?"When her tormentor was done speaking, I asked her whether what he said was true or not. To this she answered, "No. Because if what my tormentor told you was true, I would be satisfied. But, he tells you that it is gold that he pours down my throat; but he is a lying devil and speaks falsely. If it was gold I would never complain. But he abuses me, and instead of gold he only gives me the horrible, 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."
Alternatively, for a hard copy of the book, you can buy it from Amazon below:
No comments:
Post a Comment