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

John Bunyan. ___________________

These are several titles which are set over the several TRUTHS

contained in this book, for thy sooner finding of them—

THE FIRST PART

1. The words of the text opened, and the doctrines laid down. [This doctrine, that there are some that are under the law, or under the Covenant of Works.] 2. What the Covenant of Works is, and when it is given. 3. What it is to be under the Covenant of Works. 4. Who they are that are under the Covenant of Works. 5. What men may attain to that are under this Covenant of Works.

THE SECOND PART

1. The doctrine proved. 2. The new covenant made with Christ. 3.

The conditions of the new covenant. 4. The suretiship of Christ. 5.

Christ the Messenger of the new covenant. 6. Christ the Sacrifice of the new covenant. 7. Christ the High Priest of the new covenant.

8. Christ completely fulfilled the conditions of the new covenant.

9. The Covenant of Grace unchangeable; the opposers answered. 10.

Who, and how men are actually brought into the new covenant. 11.

A word of experience. 12. The privileges of the new covenant. 13.

Two Hell-bred objections answered. 14. A use of examination about the old covenant. 15. A legal spirit. 16. The use of the new covenant.

17. The unpardonable sin. 18. Objections answered for their comfort who would have their part in the new covenant. ___________________

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAW AND GRACE UNFOLDED; OR, A DISCOVERY OF THE

LAW AND GRACE; THE NATURE OF THE ONE, AND THE NATURE OF THE OTHER, AS THEY ARE THE TWO COVENANTS, ETC.

“FOR YE ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE” (Rom 6:14).

[THE WORDS OF THE TEXT OPENED, AND THE DOCTRINES LAID DOWN.]

In the three former chapters, the Apostle is pleading for the salvation of sinners by grace without the works of the law, to the end he might confirm the saints, and also that he might win over all those that did oppose the truth of this doctrine, or else leave them the more without excuse; and that he might so do, he taketh in hand, first, to show the state of all men naturally, or as they come into the world by generation, saying, in the Third Chapter, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth; there is none that doeth good,” etc. As if he had said, It seems there is a generation of men that think to be saved by the righteousness of the law; but let me tell them that they are much deceived, in that they have already sinned against the law; for by the disobedience of one, many, yea all, were brought into a state of condemnation (Rom 5:12-20). Now, in the Sixth Chapter he doth, as if he had turned him round to the brethren, and said, My brethren, you see now that it is clear and evident that it is freely by the grace of Christ that we do inherit eternal life. And again, for your comfort, my brethren, let me tell you that your condition is wondrous safe, in that you are under grace; for, saith he, “Sin shall not have dominion over you”; that is, neither the damning power, neither the filthy power, so as to destroy your souls: “For ye are not under the law”; that is, you are not under that that will damn you for sin; “but” you are “under grace,” or stand thus in relation to God, that though you have sinned, yet you shall be pardoned. “For ye are not under the law, but under grace.” If any should ask what is the meaning of the word “under,” I answer, it signifieth, you are not held, kept, or shut up by it so as to appear before God under that administration, and none but that; or thus, you are not now bound by the authority of the law to fulfill it and obey it, so as to have no salvation without you so do; or thus, if you transgress against any one tittle of it, you by the power of it must be condemned. No, no, for you are not so under it; that is, not thus under the law. Again, “For ye are not under the law.” What is meant by this word “law”? The word “law,” in Scripture, may be taken more ways than one, as might be largely cleared. There is the law of faith, the law of sin, the law of men, the law of works, otherwise called the Covenant of Works, or the first or old covenant. “In that He saith a new covenant,” which is the grace of God, or commonly called the Covenant of Grace, “He hath made the first old,” that is, the Covenant of Works, or the law (Heb 8:13).

I say, therefore, the word “law” and the word “grace,” in this Sixth of the Romans, do hold forth the two covenants which all men are under; that is, either the one or the other. “For ye are not under the law”—that is, you to whom I do now write these words, who are and have been effectually brought into the faith of Jesus, you are not under the law, or under the Covenant of Works. He doth not, therefore, apply these words to all, but to some, when he saith, “But ye”; mark, ye, ye believers, ye converted persons, ye saints, ye that have been born. (YE) “for ye are not under the law,” implying others are that are in their natural state, that have not been brought in to the Covenant of Grace by faith in Jesus Christ.

The words, therefore, being thus understood, there is discovered these two truths in them—DOCTRINE FIRST. That there are some in Gospel times that are under the Covenant of Works. DOCTRINE SECOND.

That there is never a believer under the law, as it is the Covenant of Works, but under grace through Christ. “For ye,” you believers, you converted persons, ye “are not under the law but under grace”; or, for you are delivered and brought into or under the Covenant of Grace.

DOCTRINE FIRST.

For the first, THAT THERE ARE SOME THAT ARE UNDER THE LAW, OR UNDER

THE COVENANT OF WORKS, see, I pray you, that Scripture in the Third of the Romans, where the Apostle, speaking before of sins against the law, and of the denunciations thereof against those that are in that condition, he saith, “What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law”; mark, “it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God” (Rom 3:19). That is, all those that are under the law as a Covenant of Works, that are yet in their sins, and unconverted, as I told you before. Again he saith, “But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Gal 5:18).

Implying again, that those which are for sinning against the law, or the works of the law, either as it is the old covenant, these are under the law, and not under the Covenant of Grace. Again he saith, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse” (Gal 3:10). That is, they that are under the law are under the curse; for mark, they that are under the Covenant of Grace are not under the curse. Now, there are but two covenants, therefore, it must needs be that they that are under the curse are under the law, seeing those that are under the other covenant are not under the curse, but under the blessing. “So, then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham,” but the rest are under the law (Gal 3:9).

Now I shall proceed to what I do intend to speak unto. FIRST.

I shall show you what the Covenant of Works, or the law, is, and when it was first given, together with the nature of it. SECOND. I shall show you what it is to be under the law, or Covenant of Works, and the miserable state of all those that are under it. THIRD. I shall show you who they are that are under this covenant, or law.

FOURTH. I shall show you how far a man may go and yet be under this covenant, or law.

[WHAT THE COVENANT OF WORKS IS, AND WHEN IT WAS GIVEN.]

FIRST. What this Covenant of Works is, and when it was given. [What this covenant is.] The Covenant of Works or the law, here spoken of, is the law delivered upon Mount Sinai to Moses, in two tables of stone, in ten particular branches or heads; for this see Galatians 4. The Apostle, speaking there of the law, and of some also that through delusions of false doctrine were brought again, as it were, under it, or at least were leaning that way (verse 21) he saith, As for you that desire to be under the law, I will show you the mystery of Abraham’s two sons, which he had by Hagar and Sarah; these two do signify the two covenants; the one named Hagar signifies Mount Sinai, where the law was delivered to Moses on two tables of stone (Exo 24:12; 34:1; Deu 10:1). Which is that, that whosoever is under, he is destitute of, and altogether without the grace of Christ in his heart at the present. “For I testify again to every man,” saith he, speaking to the same people, that “Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law,”

namely, that given on Mount Sinai—“ye are fallen from grace” (Gal 5:3,4). That is, not that any can be justified by the law; but this meaning is, that all those that seek justification by the works of the law, they are not such as seek to be under the second covenant, the Covenant of Grace. Also the Apostle, speaking again of these two covenants, saith, “But if the ministration of death,” or the law, for it is all one, “written and engraven in stones,” mark that, “was glorious, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit,” or the Covenant of Grace, “be rather glorious?” (2 Cor 3:7,8). As if he had said, It is true, there was a glory in the Covenant of Works, and a very great excellency did appear in it—namely, in that given in the stones on Sinai—yet there is another covenant, the Covenant of Grace, that doth exceed it for comfort and glory.

[When it was given.] But, though this law was delivered to Moses from the hands of angels in two tables of stones, on Mount Sinai, yet this was not the first appearing of this law to man; but even this in substance, though possibly not so openly, was given to the first man, Adam,