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

law of God might here fulfil, That so the mystery of his blessed will

Might be revealed in the blessedness

Of those that fly to Christ for righteousness.

Now let us argue with ourselves, then, thus That Jesus Christ our Lord came to save us, By bearing of our sins upon his back,

By hanging on the cross as on a rack,

While justice cut him off on every side, While smiles Divine themselves from him did hide, While earth did quake, and rocks in pieces rent, And while the sun, as veiled, did lament To see the innocent and harmless die

So sore a death, so full of misery.

Yea, let us turn again, and say, All this He did and suffered for love of his.

He brought in everlasting righteousness, That he might cover all our nakedness;

He wept and wash’d his face with brinish tears That we might saved be from hellish fears; Blood was his sweat, too, in his agony,

That we might live in joyful ecstasy;

He apprehended was and led away,

That grace to us-ward never might decay.

With swords, and bills, and outrage in the night, That to the peace of heav’n we might have right.

Condemned he was between two thieves to die, That we might ever in his bosom lie;

Scourged with whips his precious body were, That we lashes of conscience might not fear; His head was crowned with thorns, that we might be Crowned with glory and felicity;

He hanged was upon a cursed tree,

That we delivered from death might be;

His Father from him hides his smiles and face, That we might have them in the heavenly place; He cry’d, My God, why hast forsaken me?

That we forsaken of him might not be.

Into his side was thrust a bloody spear, That we the sting of death might never fear; He went into the grave after all this,

That we might up to heav’n go, and have bliss.

Yea, rise again he did out of the earth, And shook off from him all the chains of death; Then at his chariot wheels he captive led His foes, and trod upon the serpent’s head; Riding in triumph to his Father’s throne, There to possess the kingdom as his own.

What say’st thou, wilt not yet unto him come?

His arms are open, in his heart is room

To lay thee; be not then discouraged,

Although thy sins be many, great, and red; Unto thee righteousness he will impute,

And with the kisses of his mouth salute

Thy drooping soul, and will it so uphold, As that thy shaking conscience shall be bold To come to mercy’s seat with great access, There to expostulate with that justice

That burns like fiery flames against all those That do not with this blessed Jesus close; Which unto thee will do no harm, but good, Because thou hast reliance on that blood That justice saith hath given him content, For all that do unfeignedly repent

Their ill-spent life, and roll upon free grace, That they within that bosom might have place, That open is to such, where they shall lie In ease, and gladness, and felicity,

World without end, according to that state I have, nay, better than I, can relate.

If thou shalt still object, thou yet art vile, And hast a heart that will not reconcile Unto the holy law, but will rebel,

Hark yet to what I shall thee farther tell.

Two things are yet behind that help thee will, If God should put into thy mind that skill, So to improve them as becometh those

That would with mercy and forgiveness close.

First, then, let this sink down into thy heart, That Christ is not a Saviour in part,

But every way so fully he is made

That all of those that underneath his shade And wing would sit, and shroud their weary soul, That even Moses dare it not control,

But justify it, approve of ‘t, and conclude No man nor angel must himself intrude

With such doctrine that may oppose the same, On pain of blaspheming that holy name,

Which God himself hath given unto men,

To stay, to trust, to lean themselves on, when They feel themselves assaulted, and made fear Their sin will not let them in life appear.

For as God made him perfect righteousness, That he his love might to the height express, And us present complete before the throne; Sanctification, too, of his own

He hath prepared, in which do we stand,

Complete in holiness, at his right hand.

Now this sanctification is not

That holiness which is in us, but that

Which in the person of this Jesus is,

And can inherently be only his.

But is imputed to us for our good.

As is his active righteousness and blood; Which is the cause, though we infirm are found, That mercy and forgiveness doth abound

To us-ward, and that why we are not shent16

And empty, and away rebuked sent,

Because that all we do imperfect is.

Bless God, then, for this holiness of his, And learn to look by faith on that alone, When thou seest thou hast nothing of thine own; Yea, when thy heart most willing is to do What God by his good word doth call thee to; And when thou find’st most holiness within, And greatest power over every sin,

Yet then to Jesus look, and thou shalt see In him sanctification for thee,

Far more complete than all that thou canst find In the most upright heart and willing mind, That ever man or angels did possess,

When most filled with inherent righteousness.

Besides, if thou forgettest here to live, And Satan get thee once into his sieve,

He will so hide thy wheat, and show thy brun17

That thou wilt quickly cry, I am undone.

Alas, thy goodliest attainments here,

Though like the fairest blossoms they appear, How quickly will they lour and decay,

And be as if they all were fled away,

When once the east-wind of temptations beat Upon thee, with their dry and blasting heat!

Rich men will not account their treasure lies In crack’d groats and four-pence half-pennies,[18]

But in those bags they have within their chests, In staple goods, which shall within their breasts Have place accordingly, because they see Their substance lieth here. But if that be But shaken, then they quickly fear, and cry, Alas, ‘tis not this small and odd money, We carry in our pockets for to spend,

Will make us rich, or much will stand our friend.

If famine or if want do us assail,

How quickly will these little pieces fail!

If thou be wise, consider what I say And look for all in Christ, where no decay Is like to be; then though thy present frame Be much in up-and-down, yet he the same

Abideth, yea, and still at God’s right hand, As thy most perfect holiness will stand.

It is, I say, not like to that in thee,

Now high, then low, now out, then in, but he Most perfect is, when thou art at the worst The same, the very same; I said at first, This helpeth much when thou art buffeted, And when thy graces lie in thee as dead; Then to believe they are all perfect still In Christ thy head, who hath that blessed skill, Yet to present thee by what is in him

Unto his Father, one that hath no sin.

Yea, this will fill thy mouth with argument Against the tempter, when he shall present Before thee all thy weakness, and shall hide From thee thy graces, that thou mayst abide Under the fretting fumes of unbelief,

Which never yielded Christian man relief.

Nor help thyself thou mayst against him thus: O Satan, though my heart indeed be worse Than ‘twas a while ago, yet I perceive

Thou shalt me not of happiness bereave,

Nor yet of holiness; for by the Word

I find that Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord, Is made sanctification for me

In his own person, where all graces be,

As water in the fountain; and that I,

By means of that, have yet a sanctity,

Both personal and perfect every way;

And that is Christ himself, as Paul doth say.

Now, though my crazy pitcher oft doth leak, By means of which my graces are so weak, And so much spent, that one I cannot find Able to stay or help my feeble mind;

Yet then I look to Jesus, and see all

In him that wanting is in me, and shall

Again take courage, and believe he will

Present me upright in his person, till

He humble me for all my foolishness,

And then again fill me with holiness.

Now, if thou lovest inward sanctity,

As all the saints do most unfeignedly,

Then add, to what I have already said,

Faith in the promise; and be not afraid

To urge it often at the throne of grace, And to expect it in its time and place.

Then he that true is, and that cannot lie, Will give it unto thee, that thou thereby Mayst serve with faith, with fear, in truth and love, That God that did at first thy spirit move To ask it to his praise, that he might be Thy God, and that he might delight in thee.

If I should here particulars relate,

Methinks it could not but much animate

Thy heart, though very listless to inquire How thou mayst that enjoy, which all desire That love themselves and future happiness; But O, I cannot fully it express:

The promise is so open and so free,

In all respects, to those that humble be, That want they cannot what for them is good; But there ‘tis, and confirmed is with blood, A certain sign, all those enjoy it may,

That see they want it, and sincerely pray To God the Father, in that Jesus’ name

Who bled on purpose to confirm the same.

[THE NECESSITY OF A NEW HEART.]

Now wouldst thou have a heart that tender is, A heart that forward is to close with bliss; A heart that will impressions freely take Of the new covenant, and that will make

The best improvement of the word of grace, And that to wickedness will not give place; All this is in the promise, and it may

Obtained be of them that humbly pray.

Wouldst thou enjoy that spirit that is free, And looseth those that in their spirits be Oppressed with guilt, or filth, or unbelief; That spirit that will, where it dwells, be chief; Which breaketh Samson’s cord as rotten thread, And raiseth up the spirit that is dead;

That sets the will at liberty to choose

Those things that God hath promis’d to infuse Into the humble heart? All this, I say,

The promise holdeth out to them that pray.

[THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER.]

Wouldst thou have that good, that blessed mind, That is so much to heavenly things inclin’d That it aloft will soar, and always be

Contemplating on blest eternity.

That mind that never thinks itself at rest, But when it knows it is for ever blest;

That mind that can be here no more content, Than he that in the prison doth lament;

That blessed mind that counts itself then free When it can at the throne with Jesus be, There to behold the mansions he prepares For such as be with him and his co-heirs.

This mind is in the covenant of grace,

And shall be theirs that truly seek his face.

[OF GODLY FEAR.]

Is godly fear delightful unto thee,

That fear that God himself delights to see Bear sway in them that love him? then he will Thy godly mind in this request fulfil.

By giving thee