The Works of John Bunyan, vol 1 by John Bunyan (best book clubs txt) 📖

can scarce get higher than his knees; Lord, help! Lord, save! and then down again, till an arm from heaven takes him up, until Jesus Christ be evidently set forth crucified for him, and cursed for his sin; for then, and not till then, the temptation rightly ceaseth, at leastwise for a season. Now the soul can tend to look about it, and thus consider with itself: if Christ hath borne my sin and curse, then it is taken away from me; and seeing thus to take away sin was the contrivance of the God of heaven, I will bless his name, hope in his mercy, and look upon death and hell with comfort. ‘Thine heart shall meditate terror,’ thou shalt see the land that is very far off (Isa 33:16-18).

THE FIFTH USE.

[FIFTH.] this doctrine makes Christ precious to the believers—‘Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious’ (1 Peter 2:7).

This head might be greatly enlarged upon, and branched out into a thousand particulars, and each one full of weight and glory. 1.

By considering what sin is. 2. By considering what hell is. 3. By considering what wrath is. 4. By considering what eternity is. 5.

By considering what the loss of a soul is. 6. What the loss of God is. 7. What the loss of heaven is. 8. And what it is to be in utter darkness with devils and damned souls for ever and ever. And after all to conclude, from all the miseries the Lord Jesus delivered me.

Further, this makes Christ precious, if I consider, in the next place,

1. How he did deliver me; it was with his life, his blood; it cost him tears, groans, agony, separation from God; to do it he endured his Father’s wrath, bore his Father’s curse, and died thousands of deaths at once.

2. He did this while I was his enemy, without my desires, without my knowledge, without my deserts; he did it unawares to me.

3. He did it freely, cheerfully, yea, he longed to die for me; yea, heaven would not hold him for the love he had to my salvation, which also he hath effectually accomplished for me at Jerusalem.

Honourable Jesus! precious Jesus! loving Jesus! Jonathan’s kindness captivated David, and made him precious in his eyes for ever. ‘I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan,’ said he; ‘very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women’ (2 Sam 1:26). Why, what had Jonathan done? O, he had delivered David from the wrath of Saul. But how much more should he be precious to me who hath saved me from death and hell! who hath delivered me from the wrath of God! ‘The love of Christ constraineth us.’ Nothing will so edge the spirit of a Christian as, ‘Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.’ This makes the heavens themselves ring with joy and shouting. Mark the words, ‘Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.’

What follows now? ‘And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever’ (Rev 5:9-14).

Thus also is the song, that new song that is said to be sung by the hundred forty and four thousand which stand with the Lamb upon Mount Sion, with his Father’s name written in their foreheads. These are also called harpers, harping with their harps: ‘And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth’

(Rev 14:1-3).

But why could they not learn that song? Because they were not redeemed: none can sing of this song but the redeemed; they can give glory to the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain, and that redeemed them to God by his blood. It is faith in his blood on earth that will make us sing this song in heaven. These shoutings and heavenly songs must needs come from love put into a flame by the sufferings of Christ.

THE LAST USE.

If all these things be true, what follows but a demonstration of the accursed condition of those among the religious in these nations whose notions put them far off from Jesus, and from venturing their souls upon his bloody death? I have observed such a spirit as this in the world that careth not for knowing of Jesus; the possessed therewith do think that it is not material to salvation to venture upon a crucified Christ, neither do they trouble their heads or hearts with inquiring whether Christ Jesus be risen and ascended into heaven, or whether they see him again or no, but rather are for concluding that there will be no such thing: these men speak not by the Holly Ghost, for in the sum they call Jesus accursed; but I doubt not to say that many of them are anathematized of God, and shall stand so, till the coming of the Lord Jesus, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.[7]

FOOTNOTES:

1. In this quotation, Bunyan has followed the Genevan or Puritan version. It was a favourite version with our pilgrim forefathers, and is in many texts more faithful than our authorized translation; but, in this passage, our present version is more literal. The same Hebrew word, to ‘break’ or ‘bruise,’ is used as to Satan’s head and the Saviour’s heel.—Ed.

2. Genevan or Puritan version.—Ed.

3. ‘Common’ means public. ‘Not doing nor dying in a private capacity, but in the room and stead of sinners.’—Ed.

4. It was common with the Reformers and Puritans, when condemning the absurdities of Aquinas and the schoolmen, to call it ‘Dunsish sophistry,’ from one of the chief of these writers named Duns, usually called, from the place of his birth, Duns Scotus.—Ed.

5. The apostle evidently means by ‘Christ made sin for us,’ that he was made an offering or sacrifice for our sins. He was made sin who knew no sin. Our sins were laid upon him; he bore them away in his own body on the tree. The clean animals sacrificed by the patriarchs, and under the law, were types of this great sacrifice of Christ.—Ed.

6. ‘I hid myself when I for flies do wait, So doth the devil when he lays his bait; If I do fear the losing of my prey, I stir me, and more snares upon her lay, This way and that her wings and legs I tie, That sure as she is caught, so she must die.’—Bunyan’s Divine Emblems, No. XVIII. ‘Dialogue between a spider and a sinner.’

7. Here is faithful dealing! This is a most solemn and awful appeal to the consciences of those who, forsaking the fountain of salvation, venture to build their hopes of pardon upon some other foundation than Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages. They seek refuge in lies, which, at the great and trying day, will be fearfully and swiftly swept away, leaving them, with all their guilt upon their heads, to suffer under the curse. Reader, do not indulge in vain imaginations as to whether any sect is here alluded to; Bunyan’s appeal is to persons—to you and me. If WE, either by secret or open sins, or by carelessness of eternal realities, or by departing from a simple and entire reliance by faith in the work and merits of Christ—we trample under foot the blood of the covenant, there is nothing left us but a fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation to devour us. May we appeal to our God, Lord, is it I? Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. O lead me in the way everlasting.—Ed

***

A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD;

SHOWING

WHAT IT IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM THAT WHICH IS NOT SO.

ALSO, WHENCE IT COMES; WHO HAS IT; WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS; AND WHAT

THE PRIVILEGES OF THOSE THAT HAVE IT IN THEIR HEARTS.

London: Printed for N. Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, over against the Stocks market: 1679.

ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and “a fountain of life”—the foundation on which all wisdom rests, as well as the source from whence it emanates. Upon a principle so vastly important, all the subtle malignity of Satan has been directed, if possible to mislead the very elect; while the ungodly and impenitent fall under his devices. To the mind enlightened by Divine truth, the difference between a filial fear of offending God and the dread of punishment is very plain. Still, by the devil’s sophistry, some of the most pious Christians have been puzzled and bewildered. Bunyan was not ignorant of Satan’s devices, and he has roused the energies of his powerful mind, guided by Divine truth, to render this important doctrine so clear and easy to be understood, that the believer may not err.

This rare volume, first published in 1679, soon became so scarce that Chandler, Wilson, Whitefield, and others, omitted it from their editions of Bunyan’s works. At length it appeared in the more complete collection by Ryland and Mason, about 1780. Since then, it has been reprinted, somewhat modernized, by the Tract Society, from an original copy, discovered by that ardent lover of Bunyan, the Rev. Joseph Belcher. Of this edition, four thousand copies have been printed.

The great line of distinction that Bunyan draws is between that terror and dread of God, as the infinitely Holy One, before whom all sin must incur the intensity of punishment; and the love of God, as the Father of mercies, and fountain of blessedness, in the gift of his Son, and a sense of adoption into his family; by the influences of which the soul fears to offend him. This fear is purely evangelical; for if the slightest dependence is placed upon any supposed good works of our own, the filial fear of God is swallowed up in dread and terror—for salvation depends upon the perfection of holiness, without which none can enter heaven, and which can only be found in Christ.

Mr. Mason, on reading this treatise, thus expressed his feelings—“When the fear of the Lord is a permanent principle, inwrought in the soul by the Divine Spirit, it is an undoubted token of election to life eternal; for the most precious promises are made to God’s fearers, even the blessings of the everlasting covenant. Such are sure to be protected from every enemy; to be guided by unerring counsel; and what will crown all, to be beloved of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; till, by almighty and effectual grace, he will be translated to those mansions of glory and blessedness prepared for him, where he will sing the praises of his covenant-God while eternity endures.”

May this be the blessed experience of all those who prayerfully read this important treatise.

Geo. Offor.

A TREATISE ON THE FEAR OF GOD

“BLESSED IS EVERY ONE THAT FEARETH THE LORD.”—PSALM 128:1

“FEAR