Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul.69

 

[Through sin the soul sets itself against God.]

Answer 4. With the soul by itself are the most quick and suitable apprehensions of God and His wrath; wherefore, that must needs be made partaker of the sorest punishment in hell; it is the soul that now is the most subtle at discerning, and it is the soul that will be so; then a conscience, memory, and understanding, and mind; these will be the seat of torment, since the understanding will let wrath immediately upon these, from what it apprehends of that wrath; conscience will let the wrath of God immediately upon these, from what it fearfully feels of that wrath; the memory will then, as a vessel, receive and retain up to the brim of this wrath, even as it receiveth by the understanding and conscience, the cause of this wrath, and considers the durableness of it; so, then, the soul is the seat and the receiver of wrath, even as it was the receiver and seat of sin; here, then, is sin and wrath upon the soul, the soul in the body, and so soul and body tormented in hell fire.

Answer 5. The soul will be most tormented, because strongest; the biggest burden must lie upon the strongest part, especially since it is made capable of it by its sin. The soul must bear its own punishment, and a great part of the body's too, forasmuch as, so far as apprehension goes, the soul will be quicker at the work than the body. It is true that the body, with the help of the soul, will see too, but the soul will see even more abundantly. And there is good reason that the soul should bear part of the punishment of the body because it was through its allurements that the body yielded to help the soul sin. The devil presented sin, the soul took it by the body, and now the devil, the soul, and body and all must be lost, cast away; that is, damned in hell for sin; but the soul must be the burden bearer.