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

a fear that tremble shall, At every trip thou takest, lest thou fall, And him offend, or hurt thyself by sin,

Or cause poor souls that always blind have been To stumble at thy falls, and harder be

Against their own salvation and thee.

That fear that of itself would rather choose The rod, than to offend or to abuse

In anything that blessed worthy name,

That hath thee saved from that death and shame; That sin would soon have brought thee to, if he Had not imputed righteousness to thee.

I will love them, saith God, and not depart From them, but put my fear within their heart, That I to them may always lovely be,

And that they never may depart from me.

[OF UPRIGHTNESS AND SINCERITY.]

Wouldst thou be very upright and sincere?

Wouldst thou be that within thou dost appear, Or seem to be in outward exercise

Before the most devout, and godly wise?

Yea, art thou thus when no eye doth thee see But that which is invisible? and be

The words of God in truth thy prop and stay?

And do they in thy conscience bear more sway To govern thee in faith and holiness,

Than thou canst with thy heart and mouth express?

And do the things that truly are divine, Before thee more than gold or rubies shine?

And if, as unto Solomon, God should

Propound to thee, What wouldst thou have? how would Thy heart and pulse beat after heav’nly things, After the upper and the nether springs?

Couldst, with unfeigned heart and upright lip, Cry, Hold me fast, Lord, never let me slip, Nor step aside from faith and holiness,

Nor from the blessed hope of future bliss?

Lord, rather cross me anywhere than here; Lord, fill me always with thy holy fear, And godly jealousy of mine own heart,

Lest I, Lord, should at any time depart

From thy most blessed covenant of grace, Where Jesus rules as King, and where thy face Is only to be seen with comfort, and

Where sinners justified before thee stand.

If these thy groanings be sincere and true, If God doth count thee one that dost pursue The things thou cryest after with thy heart, No doubt but in them thou shalt have a part.

[HOW GRACES ARE TO BE OBTAINED.]

The next word that I would unto thee say, Is how thou mayst attain without delay,

Those blessed graces, and that holiness

Thou dost with so much godly zeal express Thy love to, and thy longing to enjoy,

That sins and weakness might thee less annoy.

Know, then, as I have hinted heretofore, And shall now speak unto a little more,

All graces in the person of the Son

Are by the Father hid, and therefore none Can them obtain but they who with him close; All others graceless are but only those; For of his fulness ‘tis that we receive, And grace for grace; let no man then deceive Himself or others with a feigned show

Of holiness, if Jesus they eschew.

When he ascended to his Father, then

It was that he received gifts for men;

Faith, hope, and love, true zeal, an upright heart, Right humbleness of mind, and every part Of what the word of life counts holiness, God then laid up in him, that we redress And help might have, who do unto him fly For righteousness and gospel sanctity.

[OF IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.]

Now, if thou wouldst inherit righteousness, And so sanctification possess

In body, soul, and spirit, then thou must To Jesus fly, as one ungodly first;

And so by him crave pardon for thy sin

Which thou hast loved, and hast lived in; For this cannot at all forgiven be,

For any righteousness that is in thee;

Because the best thou hast is filthy rags, Profane, presumptuous, and most beastly brags Of flesh and blood, which always cross doth lie To God, to grace, and thy felicity.

Then righteousness imputed thou must have, Thee from that guilt and punishment to save Thou liest under as a sinful man,

Throughout polluted, and that never can

By any other means acquitted be,

Or ever have true holiness in thee.

The reason is, because all graces are

Only in Christ, and be infused where,

Or into those whom he doth justify,

By what himself hath done, that he thereby Might be the whole of all that happiness The sinner shall enjoy here, and in bliss.

Besides, if holiness should first be found In those whom God doth pardon, then the ground Why we forgiven are would seem to be,

He first found holiness in thee and me;

But this the holy Scriptures will refute, And prove that righteousness he doth impute Without respect to goodness first in man; For, to speak truth indeed, no goodness can Be found in those that underneath the law Do stand; for if God goodness in them saw, Why doth he once and twice say, There is none That righteous be; no, not so much as one; None understandeth, none seek after God, His ways they have not known, but have abode In wickedness, unprofitably they

Must needs appear to be then every way.

Their throats an open sepulchre, also

Their mouths are full of filthy cursings too; And bitterness, yea, underneath their lips The asp hath poison. O how many slips

And falls in sin must such poor people have!

Now here’s the holiness that should them save, Or, as a preparation, go before,

To move God to do for them less or more?

No, grace must on thee righteousness bestow, Or, else sin will for ever thee undo.

Sweet Paul this doctrine also doth express, Where he saith, Some may have righteousness, Though works they have not; and it thus may stand, Grace by the promise gives what the command Requireth us to do, and so are we

Quitted from doing, and by grace made free.

[OF HOLINESS OF LIFE.]

Now, then, if holiness thou wouldst obtain, And wouldst a tender Christian man remain, Keep faith in action, let that righteousness That Christ fulfilled always have express And clear distinction in thy heart, from all That men by Scripture, or besides, it, call Inherent gospel holiness, or what

Terms else they please to give it; for ‘tis that, And that alone, by which all graces come Into the heart; for else there is no room For ought but pride, presumption, or despair, No love or other graces can be there.

Received you the Spirit, saith St. Paul, By hearing, faith, or works? not works, and shall No ways retain the same, except you do

Hear faith, embrace the same, and stick thereto.

[THE OPERATION OF FAITH.]

The word of faith unto me pardon brings, Shows me the ground and reason whence it springs: To wit, free grace, which moved God to give His Son to die and bleed, that I might live This word doth also loudly preach to me, Though I a miserable sinner be,

Yet in this Son of God I stand complete, Whose righteousness is without all deceit; ‘Tis that which God himself delighteth in, And that by which all his have saved been.

[OF LOVE TO GOD.]

When I do this begin to apprehend,

My heart, my soul, and mind, begins to bend To God-ward, and sincerely for to love

His son, his ways, his people, and to move With brokenness of spirit after him

Who broken was, and killed for my sin.

Now is mine heart grown holy, now it cleaves To Jesus Christ my Lord, and now it leaves Those ways that wicked be; it mourns because It can conform no more unto the laws

Of God, who loved me when I was vile,

And of sweet Jesus, who did reconcile

Me unto justice by his precious blood,

When no way else was left to do me good.

If you would know how this can operate

Thus on the soul, I shall to you relate

A little farther what my soul hath seen

Since I have with the Lord acquainted been.

The word of grace, when it doth rightly seize The spirit of a man, and so at ease

Doth set the soul, the Spirit of the Lord Doth then with might accompany the word; In which it sets forth Christ as crucified, And by that means the Father pacified

With such a wretch was thou, and by this sight, Thy guilt is in the first place put to flight, For thus the Spirit doth expostulate:

Behold how God doth now communicate

(By changing of the person) grace to thee A sinner, but to Christ great misery,

Though he the just one was, and so could not Deserve this punishment; behold, then, what The love of God is! how ‘tis manifest,

And where the reason lies that thou art blest.

This doctrine being spoken to the heart, Which also is made yield to every part

Thereof, it doth the same with sweetness fill, And so doth sins and wickednesses kill;

For when the love of God is thus reveal’d, And thy poor drooping spirit thereby seal’d, And when thy heart, as dry ground, drinks this in Unto the roots thereof, which nourish sin, It smites them, as the worm did Jonah’s gourd, And makes them dwindle of their own accord, And die away; instead of which there springs Up life and love, and other holy things.

Besides, the Holy Spirit now is come,

And takes possession of thee as its home; By which a war maintained always is

Against the old man and the deeds of his.

When God at first upon mount Sinai spake, He made his very servant Moses quake;

But when he heard the law the second time, His heart was comforted, his face did shine.

What was the reason of this difference,

Seeing no change was in the ordinance,

Although a change was in the manner, when The second time he gave it unto men?

At first ‘twas given in severity,

In thunder, blackness, darkness, tempest high, In fiery flames it was delivered.

This struck both Moses and the host as dead; But Moses, when he went into the mount

The second time, upon the same account

No fear, nor dread, nor shaking of his mind, Do we in all the holy Scripture find;

But rather in his spirit he had rest,

And look’d upon himself as greatly blest.

He was put in the rock, he heard the name, Which on the mount the Lord did thus proclaim: The Lord, merciful, gracious, and more,

Long-suffering, and keeping up in store

Mercy for thousands, pardoning these things, Iniquity, transgressions, and sins,

And holding guilty none but such as still Refuse forgiveness, of rebellious will.

This proclamation better pleased him Than all the thunder and the light’ning.

Which shook the mount, this rid him of his fear, This made him bend, make haste, and worship there.

Jehoshaphat, when he was sore opprest By Amnon and by Moab, and the rest

Of them that sought his life, no rest he found, Until a word of faith became a ground

To stay himself upon; O, then they fell, His very song became their passing-bell.

Then holiness of heart a consequence

Of faith in Christ is, for it flows from thence; The love of Christ in truth constraineth us, Of love sincerely to make judgment thus: He for us died that for ever we

Might die to sin, and Christ his servants be.

O! nothing’s like to the remembrance

Of what it is to have deliverance

From death and hell, which is of due our right, Nothing, I say, like this to work delight In holy things; this like live honey runs, And needs no pressing out of honey-combs.

[LOVE INDUCING CHRISTIAN CONDUCT.]

Then