The Works of John Bunyan, vol 3 - John Bunyan (the giving tree read aloud .TXT) 📗

say, by the power of God in his Son Jesus Christ, through the covenant of promise? I tell thee from the Lord, if thou hast, thou hast felt such a quickening power in the words of Christ (John 6) that thou hast been lifted out of that dead condition that thou before wast in. And that when thou wast under the guilt of sin, the curse of the law, and the power of the devil, and the justice of the great God, thou hast been enabled, by the power of God in Christ, revealed to thee by the Spirit through and by the Scripture, to look sin, death, hell, the devil, and the law, and all things that are at enmity with thee, with boldness and comfort in the face, through the blood, death, righteousness, resurrection, and intercession of Christ, made mention of in the Scriptures. And,

Third USE. On this account, O how excellent are the Scriptures to thy soul! O how much virtue dost thou see in such a promise, in such an invitation! They are so large as to say, Christ will in no wise cast me out! My crimson sins shall be white as snow! I tell thee, friend, there are some promises that the Lord hath helped me to lay hold of Jesus Christ through and by, that I would not have out of the Bible for as much gold and silver as can lie between York and London piled up to the stars; because through them Christ is pleased by his Spirit to convey comfort to my soul. I say, when the law curses, when the devil tempts, when hell-fire flames in my conscience, my sins with the guilt of them tearing of me, then is Christ revealed so sweetly to my poor soul through the promises that all is forced to fly and leave off to accuse my soul. So also, when the world frowns, when the enemies rage and threaten to kill me, then also the precious, the exceeding great and precious promises do weigh down all, and comfort the soul against all. This is the effect of believing the Scriptures savingly; for they that do so have by and through the Scriptures good comfort, and also ground of hope, believing those things to be its own which the Scriptures hold forth (Rom 15:4).

Fourth USE. Examine, Dost thou stand in awe of sinning against God, because he hath in the Scriptures commanded thee to abstain from it? Dost thou give diligence to make thy calling and election sure, because God commanded it in Scripture? Dost thou examine thyself whether thou be in the faith or no, having a command in Scripture so to do? Or dost thou, notwithstanding what thou readest in the Scripture, follow the world, delight in sin, neglect coming to Jesus Christ, speak evil of the saints, slight and make a mock at the ordinance of God, delight in wicked company, and the like?

Then know that it is because thou dost not in deed and in truth believe the Scriptures effectually. For, as I said before, if a man do believe them, and that savingly, then he stands in awe, he looks to his steps, he turns his feet from evil, and endeavours to follow that which is good, which God hath commanded in the Scriptures of truth; yet not from a legal or natural principle; that is, to seek for life by doing that good thing, but knowing that salvation is already obtained for him by the blood of that man Christ Jesus on the cross because he believes the Scriptures, therefore, mark I pray, therefore, I say, he labours to walk with his God in all well-pleasing and godliness, because the sweet power of the loves of Christ, which he feels in his soul by the Spirit, according to the Scriptures, constrain him so to do (2

Cor 5:14).

Fifth USE. Examine again, Dost thou labour after those qualifications that the Scriptures do describe a child of God by? That is, faith, yea the right faith, the most holy faith, the faith of the operation of God. And also, dost thou examine whether there is a real growth of grace in thy soul, as love, zeal, self-denial, and a seeking by all means to attain, if possible, to the resurrection of the dead? That is, not to satisfy thyself until thou be dissolved and rid of this body of death, and be transformed into that glory that the saints shall be in after the resurrection-day. And in the meantime dost labour and take all opportunities to walk as near as may be to the pitch, though thou know thou canst not attain it perfectly. Yet, I say, thou dost aim at it, seek after it, press towards it, and to hold on in thy race; thou shunnest that which may any way hinder thee, and also closest in with what may any way further the same; knowing that that must be, or desiring that it should be, thine eternal frame, and therefore out of love and liking to it thou dost desire and long after it, as being the thing that doth most please thy soul.

Or how is it with thy soul? Art thou such an one as regards not these things, but rather busy thy thoughts about the things here below, following those things that have no scent of divine glory upon them? If so, look to thyself, thou art an unbeliever, and so under the wrath of God, and wilt for certain fall into the same place of torment that thy fellows have fallen into before thee, to the grief of thy own soul, and thy everlasting destruction.

Consider and regard these things, and lay them to thy heart before it be too late to recover thyself, by repenting of the one, and desiring to close in with the other. O! I say, regard, regard, for hell is hot. God’s hand is up, the law is resolved to discharge against thy soul! The judgment-day is at hand, the graves are ready to fly open, the trumpet is near the sounding, the sentence will ere long be passed, and then you and I cannot call time again.

[USE AND APPLICATION.]

[47]But again, seeing they are so certain, so sure, so irrevocable and firm, and seeing the saving faith of the things contained therein, is to reform the soul, and bring it over into the things of God, really conforming to the things contained therein, both to the point of justification, and also an impartial walking, and giving up thy soul and body to a conformity to all the commands, counsels, instructions, and exhortations contained therein; this then will learn us how to judge of those who give up themselves to walk in the imaginations of their own hearts, who slight and lay aside the Scriptures, counting them but empty and uncertain things, and will live every day in open contradiction to what is contained, commanded, and forbidden therein. As FIRST. This will show us that all your drunkards, whoremasters, liars, thieves, swearers, backbiters, slanderers, scoffers at goodness, &c. I say, we may see by this that they that live in such things, have not the faith of these things contained in their hearts, seeing they delight to practise those things that are forbidden by and in them. And so, they continuing living and dying in this state, we may conclude without fear that these portions of holy Scripture belong unto them, and shall for certain be fulfilled upon them: ‘He that believeth not shall be damned’ (Mark 16:16).

‘The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God’ (1 Cor 6:9,10). ‘But the abominable, the unbelieving, the whoremongers, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone’ (Rev 21:8). ‘Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt 25:41). Depart, depart from me, for I will not save you. Depart, for my blood shall not at all wash you. Depart, for you shall not set one foot into the kingdom of heaven.

‘Depart, ye cursed,’ ye are cursed of God, cursed of his law, cursed of me, cursed by the saints, and cursed by the angels; cursed all over, nothing but cursed, and therefore depart from me; and whither? into everlasting fire—fire that will scald, scorch, burn, and flame to purpose. ‘Fire that shall never be quenched’

(Mark 9). Fire that will last to all eternity. And must we be all alone? No, you shall have company, store of company with you.

Namely, all the raging, roaring devils, together with an innumerable company of fellow-damned sinners, men, women, and children. And if the Scriptures be true, as they will one day wonderfully appear to be, then this must and shall be thy portion, if thou live and die in this state; and of all them who continue in sinning against the truth contained in the Scriptures. As, First. Dost thou delight to sin against plain commands? THOU ART

GONE.

Second. Dost thou slight and scorn the counsels contained in the Scriptures, and continue in so doing? THEN THOU ART GONE.

Third. Dost thou continually neglect to come to Christ, and usest arguments in thine own heart to satisfy thy soul with so doing?

THEN THOU ART GONE. (Luke 14:17,18, compared with v 24, and Heb 2:3). ‘How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?’ How shall we escape, that is, there is no way to escape.

(1.) Because God hath said we shall not (Heb 12:25). ‘See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth,’ that was Moses, ‘much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.’

(2.) Because he hath not only said they shall not, but also hath bound it with an oath, saying, ‘So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest’ (Heb 3:11). To whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest? Answer, ‘to them that believed not.’ So we see, that they could not enter in because of unbelief (vv 18,19).

SECOND. This will teach us what to think and conclude of such, who, though they do not so openly discover their folly by open and gross sins against the law, yet will give more heed to their own spirits, and the movings thereof, though they be neither commanded nor commended for the same in Scripture; nay, though the Scripture command and commend the contrary, than they will to the holy and revealed will of God (Isa 8:20). I say, such men are in as bad a state as the other to the full, being disobedient to God’s will revealed in his Word, as well as they, though in a different manner; the one openly transgressing against the plain and well-known truths revealed in it; the other, though more close and hidden, yet secretly rejecting and slighting them, giving more heed to their own spirits, and the motions thereof, although not warranted by the Scriptures.

A few words more, and so I shall conclude. And, First. Take heed that you content not yourself with a bare notion of the Scriptures in your heads, by which you may go far, even so far as to be able to dispute for the truth, to preach the gospel, and labour to vindicate it in opposition to gainsayers, and yet be found at the left hand of Christ at the judgment-day, forasmuch as thou didst content thyself with a notion or traditional knowledge of them.[48]

Second. Have a care that thou own the whole Scripture, and not own one part and neglect another, or slight it; as thus: To own the law, and slight the gospel; or to think that thou must be saved by thy good doings and works; for that is