Works of John Bunyan Volume III Part 154

O! nothing's like to the remembrance Of what it is to have deliverance From death and h.e.l.l, 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 understand my meaning by my words, How sense of mercy unto faith affords Both grace to sanctify, and holy make That soul that of forgiveness doth partake.

Thus having briefly showed you what is The way of life, or sanct.i.ty, of bliss, I would not in conclusion have you think, By what I say, that Christian men should drink In these my words with lightness, or that they Are now exempted from what every day Their duty is. No, G.o.d doth still expect, Yea, doth command, that they do not neglect To pray, to read, to hear, and not dissent From being sober, grave, and diligent In watching, self-denial, and with fear To serve him all the time thou livest here.

Indeed I have endeavoured to lay Before your eyes the right and only way Pardon to get, and also holiness, Without which never think that G.o.d will bless Thee with the kingdom he will give to those That Christ embrace, and holy lives do choose To live, while here all others go astray, And shall in time to come be cast away.

FROM MOUNT EBAL.

Thus having heard from Gerizzim, I shall Next come to Ebal, and you thither call, Not there to curse you, but to let you hear How G.o.d doth curse that soul that shall appear An unbelieving man, a graceless wretch; Because he doth continue in the breach Of Moses' law, and also doth neglect To close with Jesus; him will G.o.d reject And cast behind him; for of right his due Is that from whence all miseries ensue.

Cursed, saith he, are thy that do transgress The least of my commandments, more or less.

Nothing that written is must broken be, But always must be kept unto by thee, And must fulfilled be; for here no man Can look G.o.d in the face, or ever stand Before the judgment-seat; for if they be Convict, condemned too a.s.suredly.

Now keep this law no mortal creature can, For they already do, as guilty, stand Before the G.o.d that gave it; so that they Obnoxious to the curse lie every day, Which also they must feel for certainty, If unto Jesus Christ they do not fly.

Hence, then, as they for ever shall be blest, That do by faith upon the promise rest, So peace unto the wicked there is none; 'Tis wrath and death that they must feed upon.

That what I say may some impression make On carnal hearts, that they in time may take That course that best will prove when time is done, These lines I add to what I have begun.

First, thou must know that G.o.d, as he is love So he is justice, therefore cannot move, Or in the least be brought to favour those His holiness and justice doth oppose.

For though thou mayst imagine in thy heart That G.o.d is this or that, yet if thou art At all besides the truth of what he is, And so dost build thy hope for life amiss, Still he the same abideth, and will be The same, the same for ever unto thee.

As G.o.d is true unto his promise, so Unto his threat'ning he is faithful too.

Cease to be G.o.d he must, if he should break One t.i.ttle that his blessed mouth did speak.

Now, then, none can be saved but the men With whom the G.o.dhead is contented when It them beholds with the severest eye Of justice, holiness, and yet can spy No fault nor blemish in them; these be they That must be saved, as the Scriptures say.

If this be true, as 'tis a.s.suredly, Woe be to them that wicked live and die; Those that as far from holiness have been All their life long as if no eye had seen Their doings here, or as if G.o.d did not At all regard, or in the least mind what, Wherein, or how they did his law transgress, Either by this or other wickedness; But how deceived these poor creatures are, They then shall know when they their burthen bear.

Alas, our G.o.d is a consuming fire; So is his law, by which he doth require That thou submit to him, and if thou be Not in that justice found that can save thee From all and every sentence which he spake Upon mount Sinai, then as one that brake It, thou the flames thereof shall quickly find As scourges thee to lash, while sins do bind Thee hand and foot, for ever to endure The strokes of vengeance for thy life impure.

What I have said will yet evinced be, And manifest abundantly to thee, If what I have already spoken to Be joined with these lines that do ensue.

Justice discovers its antipathy Against profaneness and malignity.

Not only by the law it gave to men, And threatenings thereunto annexed then.

But inasmuch as long before that day, He did prepare for such as go astray, That dreadful, that so much amazing place-- h.e.l.l, with its torments--for those men that grace And holiness of life slight and disdain, There to bemoan themselves with h.e.l.lish pain.

This place, also, the pains so dismal be, Both as to name and nature, that in me It is not to express the d.a.m.ning wights, The h.e.l.lish torture, and the fearful plights Thereof; for as intolerable they Must needs be found, by those that disobey The Lord, so can no word or thought express Unto the full the height of that distress; Such miserable caitiffs, that shall there Rebukes of vengeance, for transgressions bear.

Indeed the holy Scriptures do make use Of many metaphors, that do conduce Much to the symbolizing of the place, Unto our apprehension; but the case-- The sad, the woful case--of those that lie As racked there in endless misery, By all similitudes no mortals may Set forth in its own nature; for I say Similitudes are but a shade, and show Of those or that they signify to you.

The fire that doth within thine oven burn, The prison where poor people sit and mourn, Chains, racks, and darkness, and such others, be As painting on the wall, to let thee see By word and figures the extremity Of such as shall within these burnings lie.

But certainly, if wickedness and sin Had only foolish toys and trifles been, And if G.o.d had not greatly hated it, Yea, could he any ways thereof admit, And let it pa.s.s, he would not thus have done.

He doth not use to punish any one With any place or punishment that is Above or sharper than the sin of his Hath merited, and justice seeth due; Read sin, then, by the death that doth ensue.

Most men do judge of sin, not by the fruits It bears and bringeth forth, but as it suits Their carnal and deluded hearts, that be With sensual pleasures eaten up; but he That now so judgeth, shortly shall perceive That G.o.d will judge thereof himself, and leave Such men no longer to their carnal l.u.s.ts, To judge of wickedness, and of the just And righteous punishment that doth of right Belong thereto; and will, too, in despite Of all their carnal reason, justify Himself, in their eternal misery.

Then h.e.l.l will be no fancy, neither will Men's sins be pleasant to them; but so ill And bitter, yea, so bitter, that none can Fully express the same, or ever stand Under the burden it will on them lay, When they from life and bliss are sent away.

When I have thought how often G.o.d doth speak Of their destruction, who HIS law do break; And when the nature of the punishment I find so dreadful, and that G.o.d's intent, Yea, resolution is, it to inflict On every sinner that shall stand convict, I have amazed been, yet to behold, To see poor sinners yet with sin so bold, That like the horse that to the battle runs, Without all fear, and that no danger shuns, Till down he falls. O resolute attempts!

O sad, amazing, d.a.m.nable events!

The end of such proceedings needs must be, From which, O Lord, save and deliver me.

But if thou think that G.o.d thy n.o.ble race Will more respect, than into such a place To put thee; hold, though thou his offspring be, And so art lovely, yet sin hath made thee Another kind of creature than when thou Didst from his fingers drop, and therefore now Thy first creation stands thee in no stead; Thou hast transgressed, and in very deed Set G.o.d against thee, who is infinite, And that for certain never will forget Thy sins, nor favour thee if thou shalt die A graceless man; this is thy misery.

When angels sinned, though of higher race Than thou, and also put in higher place, Yet them he spared not, but cast them down From heaven to h.e.l.l; where also they lie bound In everlasting chains, and no release Shall ever have, but wrath, that shall increase Upon them, to their everlasting woe.

As for the state they were exalted to, That will by no means mitigate their fear, But aggravate their h.e.l.lish torment here; For he that highest stands, if he shall fall, His danger needs must be the great'st of all.

Now if G.o.d n.o.ble angels did not spare Because they did transgress, will he forbear Poor dust and ashes? Will he suffer them To break his law, and sin, and not condemn Them for so doing? Let not man deceive Himself or others; they that do bereave Themselves by sin of happiness, shall be Cut off by justice, and have misery.

Witness his great severity upon The world that first was planted, wherein none But only eight the deluge did escape, All others of that vengeance did partake; The reason was, that world unG.o.dly stood Before him, therefore he did send the flood, Which swept them all away. A just reward For their most wicked ways against the Lord, Who could no longer bear them and their ways, Therefore into their bosom vengeance pays.

We read of Sodom, and Gomorrah too, What judgments they for sin did undergo; How G.o.d from heaven did fire upon them rain, Because they would not wicked ways refrain; Condemning of them with an overthrow, And turned them to ashes. Who can know The miseries that these poor people felt While they did underneath those burnings melt?

Now these, and many more that I could name, That have been made partakers of the flame And sword of justice, G.o.d did then cut off, And make examples unto all that scoff At holiness, or do the gospel slight; And long it will not be before the night And judgment, painted out by what he did To Sodom and Gomorrah, fulfilled Upon such sinners be, that they may now That G.o.d doth hate the sin, and persons too.

Of such as still rebellious shall abide, Although they now at judgment may deride.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] On the reverse of the t.i.tle-page is the following singular advertis.e.m.e.nt:--'This author having published many books, which have gone off very well, there are certain ballad-sellers about Newgate, and on London Bridge, who have put the two first letters of this author's name, and his effigies, to their rhymes and ridiculous books, suggesting to the world as if they were his.

Now know, that this author publisheth his name at large to all his books; and what you shall see otherwise, he disowns.'--Ed.

[2] 'Convert,' for 'be ye converted,' was a common mode of speech in Bunyan's time. It is so used in Holy Writ, Isaiah 6:10.--Ed.

[3] Armorial bearings as now worn by heralds embroidered on the tabard or coat.--Ed.

[4] A common custom when death takes place. The two great toes are tied together, to make the body look decent; and formerly the hands were placed with the palms together, as if in the att.i.tude of prayer, and were kept in that posture by tying the thumbs together.--Ed.

[5] Without fail, or in spite of all hindrance.--Ed.

[6] Alluding to wrestlers. Some modes of throwing each other down are called fair, others foul or unfair.--Ed.

[7] Sincerity is the fountain and source of all real inquiries after truth, holiness, and heaven. It leads to personal examination of G.o.d's Word, which leads us from the complexity of human inventions to the simplicity of the gospel.--Ed

[8] The exact spelling of Bunyan is here followed; but whether he meant 'coped,' 'covered,' or 'cooped'--inclosed, or shut in--must be left to the reader's judgment. I prefer the latter.--Ed.

[9] Fit, convenient. 'Deft' is now obsolete.--Ed.

[10] Full of fear and dread. Bunyan, in his Holy War, brings his immense armies of doubters, under General Incredulity, from h.e.l.l-gate Hill.--Ed.

[11] Quick, nimble, active, powerful spirits. Wight is now obsolete, except in irony; see Imperial Dictionary.--Ed.

[12] See note on verse fifty of the Meditations on Heaven.--Ed.

[13] This is a common temptation. Job felt it, and murmured at having been born, Job 3:3, and 10:18, 19. Jeremiah pa.s.sed through the same experience, Jeremiah 20:14, 15. Bunyan had the same bitter feelings, and wished himself a dog or toad; see Grace Abounding, No. 104. Colonel Gardener was similarly tried. How awful is the havoc that sin has made with human happiness.-Ed.

[14] The finest particles or atoms of matter--

'As thick, as numberless 'As the gay motes that people the sunbeams.'--Milton.--Ed.

[15] How does this remind us of the awfully impressive cries of the man in the iron cage--'O, eternity, eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in eternity!' 'A thousand deaths live in him, he not dead.'--Ed.

[16] From the Saxon scendan, to violate, spoil, revile; see Imperial Dictionary.--Ed.

[17] Altered by poetical license from 'bran.' Chaucer, in one instance, spells it 'bren,' to rhyme with men.--Ed.

[18] This evidently refers to a coin value four-penny half-penny, and, like a cracked groat, not so much prized as good coin. In Turner's Remarkable Providences, folio, 1697, pages 28, is a very singular allusion to one of these coins:--'Christian, the wife of R. Green, of Brenham, Somersets.h.i.+re, in 1663, made a covenant with the devil. He p.r.i.c.ked the fourth finger off her right hand, between the middle and upper joint, and took two drops of her blood on his finger, giving her four-pence half-penny. He then vanished, leaving a smell of brimstone behind.'--Ed.

A Book for Boys and Girls Or, Temporal Things Spritualized.

by John Bunyan,

Licensed and entered according to order.

London: Printed for, and sold by, R. Tookey, at his Printing House in St. Christopher's Court, in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange, 1701.