The Works of John Bunyan, vol 1 by John Bunyan (books to read to improve english .TXT) 📕

to enter in.” It is very probable that it was in preaching upon this text, Bunyan was assailed with a want of charity. The anecdote is thus narrated by Mr. Doe in The Struggler:—“As Mr. Bunyan was preaching in a barn, and showing the fewness of those that should be saved, there stood one of the learned to take advantage of his words; and having done preaching, the schoolman said to him, You are a deceiver, a person of no charity, and therefore not fit to preach; for he that [in effect] condemneth the greatest part of his hearers hath no charity, and therefore is not fit to preach. Then Mr. Bunyan answered, The Lord Jesus Christ preached in a ship to his hearers on the shore (Mat 13), and showed that they were as four sorts of ground, the highway, the stony, the thorny, and the good ground, but those represented by the good ground were the only persons to be saved. And your position is, That he that in effect condemneth the greatest part of his hearers, hath no charity, and therefore is not fit to preach the gospel. But here the Lord Jesus Christ did so, then your conclusion is, The Lord Jesus Christ wanted charity, and therefore was not fit to preach the gospel. Horrid blasphemy; away with your hellish logic, and speak Scripture.” Of one thing we are certain, that while hollow-hearted hypocritical professors will ever complain of faithful dealing with their soul’s eternal interests; the sincere and humble Christina will be most thankful for searching inquiries, that, if wrong, he may be set right before his final destiny is irrevocably fixed. May our souls submit to a scriptural measurement of this gate, and the terms upon which alone it can be opened unto us.

The difficulties that prevent “the many” from entering in are, 1.

Forgetfulness that we can only enter heaven by the permission of the law—every jot and tittle must be fulfilled. Now, if we could live from our conversion to our death in the holiest obedience to all its precepts, yet, having previously violated them, the stain must not only be washed away in the blood of atonement, but we, as part of the body of Christ, must, in him, render perfect obedience.

2. In addition to the disinclination of our hearts to submit to this perfect righteousness, we have outward storms of temptation and persecution. “The world will seek to keep thee out of heaven with mocks, flouts, taunts, threats, jails, gibbets, halters, burnings, and a thousand deaths; therefore strive! Again, if it cannot overcome thee with these, it will flatter, promise, allure, entice, entreat, and use a thousand tricks on this hand to destroy thee; and many that have been stout against the threats of the world have yet been overcome with the bewitching flatteries of the same.

O that we may by grace escape all these enemies, and so strive as to enter into the joy of our Lord.”

GEO. OFFOR.

TO THE READER.

COURTEOUS READER,

God, I hope, hath put it into my heart to write unto thee another time, and that about matters of greatest moment—for now we discourse not about things controverted among the godly, but directly about the saving or damning of the soul; yea, moreover, this discourse is about the fewness of them that shall be saved, and it proves that many a high professor will come short of eternal life; wherefore the matter must needs be sharp, and so disliked by some, but let it not be rejected by thee. The text calls for sharpness, so do the times, yea, the faithful discharge of my duty towards thee hath put me upon it.

I do not now pipe, but mourn; and it will be well for thee if thou canst graciously lament. (Matt 11:17) Some, say they, make the gate of heaven too wide, and some make it too narrow; for my part, I have here presented thee with as true a measure of it as by the Word of God I can. Read me, therefore, yea, read me, and compare me with the Bible; and if thou findest my doctrine and that book of God concur, embrace it, as thou wilt answer the contrary in the day of judgment. This awakening work—if God will make it so—was prepared for thee: if there be need, and it wounds, get healing by blood: if it disquiets, get peace by blood: if it takes away all thou hast, because it was naught (for this book is not prepared to take away true grace from any), then buy of Christ “gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.” (Rev 3:18) Self-flatteries, self-deceivings, are easy and pleasant, but damnable. The Lord give thee a heart to judge right of thyself, right of this book, and so to prepare for eternity, that thou mayest not only expect entrance, but be received into the kingdom of Christ and of God. Amen.

So prays thy Friend,

JOHN BUNYAN.

THE STRAIT GATE.

“STRIVE TO ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT GATE; FOR MANY, I SAY UNTO YOU, WILL SEEK TO ENTER IN, AND SHALL NOT BE ABLE.”—LUKE 13:24

These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and are, therefore, in especial manner to be heeded; besides, the subject matter of the words is the most weighty, to wit, how we should attain salvation, and therefore also to be heeded.

The occasion of the words was a question which one that was at this time in the company of the disciples put to Jesus Christ; the question was this, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” (verse 23) A serious question, not such as tended to the subversion of the hearers, as too many now-a-days do; but such as in its own nature tended to the awakening of the company to good, and that called for such an answer that might profit the people also. This question also well pleased Jesus Christ, and he prepareth and giveth such an answer as was without the least retort, or show of distaste; such an answer, I say, as carried in it the most full resolve to the question itself, and help to the persons questioning. “And he said unto them, Strive to enter in,” &c. The words are an answer, and an instruction also. First. An answer, and that in the affirmative; the gate is strait—many that seek will not be able, therefore but few shall be saved. Second. The answer is an instruction also; “strive to enter in,” &c., good counsel and instruction; pray God help me, and my reader, and all that love their own salvation, to take it.

My manner of handling the words will be—[FIRST], By way of explication; and then [SECOND], By way of observation.

[FIRST. THE WORDS BY WAY OF EXPLICATION.]

The words are to be considered, [FIRST], with reference to their general scope; and then [SECOND], with reference to their several phrases.

FIRST. The general scope of the text is to be considered, and that is that great thing—salvation; for these words do immediately look at, point to, and give directions about salvation: “Are there few that be saved? Strive to enter in at the strait gate.”

The words, I say, are to direct us not only to talk of, or to wish for, but to understand how we shall, and to seek that we may be, effectually saved, and therefore of the greatest importance. To be saved! what is like being saved? To be saved from sin, from hell, from the wrath of God, from eternal damnation, what is like it? To be made an heir of God, of his grace, of his kingdom, and eternal glory, what is like it? and yet all this is included in this word saved, and in the answer to that question, “Are there few that be saved?” Indeed this word SAVED is but of little use in the world, save to them that are heartily afraid of damning. This word lies in the Bible as excellent salves lie in some men’s houses, thrust into a hole, and not thought on for many months, because the household people have no wounds nor sores. In time of sickness, what so set by as the doctor’s glasses and gally-pots full of his excellent things? but when the person is grown well, the rest is thrown to the dunghill. 1

O when men are sick of sin, and afraid of damning, what a text is that where this word saved is found! Yea, what a word of worth, and goodness, and blessedness, is it to him that lies continually upon the wrath of a guilty conscience? “But the whole need not a physician”; he therefore, and he only, knows what saved means, that knows what hell, and death, and damnation means. “What shall I do to be saved?” is the language of the trembling sinner. “Lord save me,” is the language of the sinking sinner; and none admire the glory that is in that word saved, but such as see, without being saved, all things in heaven and earth are emptiness to them. They also that believe themselves privileged in all the blessedness that is wrapt up in that word, bless and admire God that hath saved them. Wherefore, since the thing intended, both in the question and the answer, is no less than the salvation of the soul, I beseech you to give the more earnest heed. (Heb 12) But, SECOND. To come to the particular phrases in the words, and to handle them orderly, in the words I find four things. First. An intimation of the kingdom of heaven. Second. A description of the entrance into it. Third. An exhortation to enter into it. And, Fourth, A motive to enforce that exhortation.

[AN INTIMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.]

First. An intimation of the kingdom of heaven; for when he saith, “Strive to enter in,” and in such phrases, there is supposed a place or state, or both, to be enjoyed. “Enter in”; enter into what, or whither, but into a state or place, or both? and therefore when you read this word, “enter in,” you must say there is certainly included in the text that good thing that yet is not expressed.

“Enter in”; into heaven, that is the meaning, where the saved are, and shall be; into heaven, that place, that glorious place, where God, and Christ, and angels are, and the souls or spirits of just men made perfect. “Enter in”; that thing included, though not expressed in the words, is called in another place, the Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven. (Heb 12:23) And therefore the words signify unto us, that there is a state most glorious, and that when this world is ended; and that this place and state are likewise to be enjoyed, and inherited by a generation of men for ever. Besides, this word, “enter in,” signifieth that salvation to the full is to be enjoyed only there, and that there only is eternal safety; all other places and conditions are hazardous, dangerous, full of snares, imperfections, temptations, and afflictions, but there all is well; there is no devil to tempt, no desperately wicked heart to deliver us up, no deceitful lust to entangle, nor any enchanting world to bewitch us. There all shall be well to all eternity. Further, all the parts of, and circumstances that attend salvation, are only there to be enjoyed; there only is immortality