"The
Worth Of A Human Soul
The
loss of the soul is the greatest loss that ever happened. If you were to gather
all the losses caused by the Deluge, by the fire upon Sodom, and by the bloody
wars of many ages; if you were to measure, I say, the magnitude of these losses
in wealth, in kingdoms, in the blood of men and dear relations,-what grief,
what woe, what pangs, what sighs, what deep and heavy groans, what dire wailing
would they involve, from Abel to the present day! If all the misery of past
times was gathered together into one terrible groan, it would be a trifle
compared with the woeful groan of a soul that has been cast down into the
unquenchable fire, not for a thousand or ten thousand years, nor for years
innumerable as the sand on the sea shore, but for ever and ever. Blessed be God
that we have not met with this irretrievable calamity.
There
has been, on the other hand, great gain in the world, and great joy for the acquisition
of wealth and glory, and for the victories obtained on land and sea, and for
the possession of dear ' relations. But if you could gather together into one
all the joys that have flowed in the river of time, yielding pleasure on its
way to the millions of the human race; what is this after all compared with the
salvation of a single soul? It is but like the chirping of a robin in the woods
of Windsor compared with the jubilant songs of millions of the redeemed."
-From
an Extract of a Sermon by Christmas Evans (born in 1766) Found in Some Of The Great Preachers Of
Wales by Owen Jones, M.A Published by Tentmaker Publications England 1995
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“(4)
Damnation is the greatest evil of suffering which can befall a man
It is the greatest
punishment which God inflicts. This is the wrath of God to the uttermost; it is
His vengeance. Who knows the power of His wrath? None but the damned ones. To
be damned is misery, altogether misery and always misery. This will be more evident
when we examine what damnation is. It may be considered in two ways:
1.Privately as a punishment
of loss (poena damni). 2. Positively
as a punishment of sense (poena senus).
We have an instance of both of these in Mathew 25:41: “Then shall He shay to
them on the left hand, Depart from me”-there is privative damnation-“‘into
everlasting fire”-there is positive damnation.
As sin is negatively not
doing good and positively the doing of evil, so damnation is a denial of good to, and an inflicting of evil upon,
sinners. Salvation is ad mali, the
taking away of evil, and adeptio boni, the
obtaining and enjoying of good. It is expressed in both ways in John 3:16: “God
so loved the world that He gave his Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not peris”’-there is negative salvation- “but have everlasting life” – there is
positive salvation. Similarly the damnation of sinners is negative and
positive.
1.
Privative damnation. This penalty of loss will be the least
plague of the sinner’s hell. He shall be deprived of all good, never to enjoy a
good day or a good thing more. When once a man is damned he may bid adieu to
all good (Luke 16:25).
2.
Positive damnation. This the schools justly call poena sensus, the punishment of sense.
If it were not for this, that men will then feel both their loss and their
gain-the pain which they have earned by their sins-damnation would seem to be
but a dream or imagination. But their senses a well as their understanding,
feeling as well as fancy, will tell them what a dreadful thing it is to be damned.
It is a thing which I wish with all my soul that none of you ever know save by
hearing of it, and wish that hearing of it may be a means to prevent your
feeling it. But what shall I do? Who that has not been in Hell can tell what
Hell is? Who would go there to find out what it is? Surely eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what
God hath prepared for them that love Him, and likewise for them that hate Him,
that is for impenitent sinners. It is the design and work of sin to make man eternally
miserable, and to undo him, soul and body, forever.”
-From The Sinfulness of
Sin by Puritan Ralph Venning Published by the Banner of Truth Trust Carlisle, PA 1965 First
Published 1669
