The Works of John Bunyan, vol 3, John Bunyan [ebook reader color screen TXT] 📗

all one, as if thou didst thrust Christ away from thee; or else so to own the gospel, as if by it thou wert exempted from all obedience to the ten commandments, and conformity to the law in life and conversation; for in so doing thou wilt for certain make sure of eternal vengeance.

Third. Have a care that thou put not wrong names on the things contained in the Scriptures, as to call the law, Christ, and Christ, the law, for some having done so, in my knowledge, have so darkened to themselves the glorious truths of the gospel, that in a very little time they have been resolved to thwart and oppose them, and so have made room in their own souls for the devil to inhabit, and obtained a place in hell for their own souls to be tormented for ever and ever.

Against this danger therefore in reading and receiving the testimony of Scripture, learn to distinguish between the law and the gospel, and to keep them clear asunder, as to the salvation of thy soul.

1. And that thou mayest so do, in the first place beg of God that he would show thee the nature of the gospel, and set it home effectually with life and power upon thy soul by faith. Which is this, that God would show thee, that as thou being man hast sinned against God, so Christ, being God-man, hath bought thee again, and with his most precious blood set thee free from the bondage thou hast fallen into by thy sins. And that not upon condition that thou wilt do thus and thus, this and the other good work; but rather, that thou, being first justified freely by mere grace through the blood of Jesus, shouldst also receive thy strength from him who hath bought thee, to walk before him in all well-pleasing. Being enabled thereto by virtue of his Spirit, which hath revealed to thy soul that thou art delivered already from wrath to come, by the obedience, not of thee, but of another man, viz., Jesus Christ.

2. Then if the law thou readest of, tell thee in thy conscience thou must do this and the other good work of the law, if ever thou wilt be saved; answer plainly, that for thy part thou art resolved now not to work for life, but to believe in the virtue of that blood shed upon the cross, upon Mount Calvary, for the remission of sins. And yet because Christ hath justified thee freely by his grace, thou wilt serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of thy life, yet not in a legal spirit, or in a covenant of works; but mine obedience, say thou, I will endeavour to have it free, and cheerful, out of love to my Lord Jesus.

3. Have a care thou receive not this doctrine in the notion only, lest thou bring a just damnation upon thy soul, by professing thyself to be freed by Christ’s blood from the guilt of sin, while thou remainest still a servant to the filth of sin. For I must tell you, that unless you have the true and saving work of the faith and grace of the gospel in your hearts, you will either go on in a legal holiness, according to the tenor of the law; or else through a notion of the gospel, the devil bewitching and beguiling thy understanding, will, and affections, thou wilt, Ranter-like, turn the grace of God into wantonness, and bring upon thy soul double, if not treble damnation, in that thou couldest not be contented to be damned for thy sins against the law, but also to make ruin sure to thy soul, thou wouldst dishonour the gospel, and turn the grace of God, held forth and discovered to men by that, into licentiousness.[49]

But that thou mightest be sure to escape these dangerous rocks on the right hand and on the left, see that thy faith be such as is spoken of in Scripture. And that thou be not satisfied without that, which is a faith wrought by the mighty operation of God, revealing Christ to and in thee, as having wholly freed thee from thy sins by his most precious blood. Which faith, if thou attain unto, will so work in thy heart, that first thou wilt see the nature of the law, and [secondly] also the nature of the gospel, and delight in the glory of it; and also thou wilt find an engaging of thy heart and soul to Jesus Christ, even to the giving up of thy whole man unto him, to be ruled and governed by him to his glory, and thy comfort, by the faith of the same Lord Jesus.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] There were nine editions of this book published during the Author’s life; all those subsequent to the first have the following title:—‘Sighs from Hell, or the Groans of a Damned Soul; discovering from the 16th of Luke the lamentable state of the damned: and may fitly serve as a warning word to sinners, both old and young, by faith in Jesus Christ, to avoid the same place of torment. With a discovery of the usefulness of the Scriptures as our safe-conduct for avoiding the torments of hell. By John Bunyan. London: Printed for F. Smith, at the Elephant and Castle, without Temple-bar. At 1s bound.’

[2] In the ‘errata’ to the first edition, Bunyan says—‘At the first I thought to put out with this a discourage of the two covenants, which since I thought to put forth in a piece by itself.’ This shows that his great work on the covenants was the fourth volume which he wrote. In the second edition, the author altered the arrangement of the text, by placing in his comment on verse 28

a considerable part of what in the first edition formed the ‘use and application.’

[3] In the second and subsequent editions, this was altered to ‘I am thine to serve in the Lord Jesus.’—Ed.

[4] ‘Sad’ frequently occurs in this treatise; it is from the Saxon, saetan—set, fixed, gloomy, grievous, mournful.—Ed.

[5] The first and second editions have ‘the saints,’ instead of ‘such are saints.’—Ed.

[6] In quoting these passages, Mr. Bunyan has mixed the Puritan version with that now authorized; very probably, quoting from memory. His text is from the present version; the reader will see, by comparison, the different words employed in the two translations.—Ed.

[7] Solemn truth! The heir of heaven and immortality has to trudge the street in the foulest weather, while the sinner’s lap-dog is held up to the carriage window, taken out for an airing.—Ed.

[8] Reader, this feeling yet remains. Christians have recently, even in Scotland, had to meet in barns, or in the open air, for worship, because no landowner would sell or let a piece of ground on which to build a place of worship.—Ed.

[9] Cannot down; will not receive, submit to, or feel pleasure in. ‘If a boy is hungry, bread by itself will down.’—Locke on Education. ‘Down and beg mercy of the Duke.’—Shakespeare.—Ed.

[10] Alluding to the awful sufferings of Leighton, and all Christians of his time, under that bigoted demon in human shape, Laud.—Ed.

[11] It is a very ancient and prevailing opinion, that man is always attended by invisible spirits, whose powers or mode of intercourse with our spirits is unknown. These attendants are most active at the hour of death. They cannot be seen unless the eyes are made to possess new or miraculous powers. It may be that, when dying, the spirit, before it entirely quits its mortal habitation, has a glimpse of spiritual existences. If so, how awful for the sinner to see the infernal demons ready to drag away his soul; but most joyful for the Christian to embrace his celestial guides. This is illustrated in the Pilgrim’s Progress, during Christian’s conflict at the hour of death.—Vol. 3, p. 163.—Ed.

[12] Guard, convoy, or escort. See Pilgrim’s Progress, the entrance into the celestial city.—Ed.

[13] This proverb was very probably founded upon Jeremiah 50:11: ‘Ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls.’—Ed.

[14] Bunyan is here expressing what he had most acutely felt. ‘I blessed the condition of the dog and toad, because they had no soul to perish under the everlasting weight of hell. I was broken to pieces,’ until he found refuge in Jesus. See Grace Abounding, No. 104.—Ed.

[15] The first edition has, ‘and the practice of the saints.’ This was left out in all the subsequent editions.—Ed.

[16] Ale bench, in Bunyan’s time, was very similar to a taproom; more generally the place of resort for the idle tipplers, but sometimes of refreshment to the weary traveller.—Ed.

[17] Formerly designated not only a courageous man, but his counterpart, a braggart, a bully, or a dandy. In these latter senses it is obsolete.—Ed.

[18] These feelings appear in awful reality in Grace Abounding, Nos. 87 and 104.—Ed.

[19] How awfully general is this wretched delusion. The chattering of monkeys or parrots is more acceptable than to mock God with a solemn sound upon a thoughtless tongue. Jews gabble Hebrew, and Papists Latin, and, alas! others who NEVER prayed, have been from childhood in the habit of repeating or reading a form of words, called, with devilish subtlety, ‘saying prayers.’—Ed.

[20] The intelligent reader should notice that these terms are not jumbled together. Their selection and arrangement would confer honour upon the most profound doctor of philology; while from Bunyan they flowed from native genius, little inferior to inspiration.

To show the enmity of the unconverted to those who bear the image of Christ, he descends step by step. They first mock, or deride them by mimicry; second, flout, or treat them with contemptuous sneers, both by words and actions; third, scoff at them with insolent ridicule, sometimes accompanied by a push or blow; fourth, taunt, revile, upbraid, bully, and challenge them: all these produce, fifth, hate, abhorrence, and detestation, leading inevitably to, sixth, persecution—to pursue with malignity—to afflict, harass, and destroy. Such are the gradations in the opposition of the carnal mind to the most excellent of the earth; and such the worldly inheritance of the followers of our once lowly, but now exalted Saviour.—Ed.

[21] ‘Troubles,’ see Puritan translation.—Ed.

[22] With what searching truthfulness is the character of Bye-ends drawn in the Pilgrim’s Progress, p. 132: ‘looking one way and rowing another.’—Ed.

[23] This is not intended to convey any reflection upon human learning, but to exhibit the contemptuous spirit of learned men, so generally manifested to the illiterate, but really learned followers of the Lamb. They sometimes meet their match, even in worldly wit. Thus, when three learned gentlemen from Oxford overtook a pious waggoner, they ironically saluted him as Father Abraham, Father Isaac, and Father Jacob; he replied, Gentlemen, you are mistaken: I am neither Abraham, Isaac, nor Jacob, but Saul, the son of Kish, who was sent to find his father’s asses, and so I have found them.—Ed.

[24] The word ‘clergy’ is omitted from all the editions published after Bunyan’s death. These words are calculated to fix upon the mind the necessity of a visitation from heaven, of personal examination of the Scriptures, and of solemn, earnest, persevering prayer, without which no clergyman can do a sinner good. But how inexpressibly terrible will be the misery of carnal clergymen, who, by precept or example, have led their hearers to a false hope of heaven. How will such souls gnash their teeth in bitter anguish, and trample their devoted souls to the hottest hell!—Ed.

[25] Making an entertainment by stealth, privately indulging in wickedness.—Ed.

[26] Awful responsibility!! A heavy curse on the souls of those who labour to prevent private judgment, guided simply by the Bible—who lead poor sinners to rely upon acts of uniformity, liturgies, articles, or creeds, the