The Works of John Bunyan, vol 3 by John Bunyan (summer books .TXT) 📕

XLVI.

OF MAN BY NATURE.

From God he’s a backslider,

Of ways he loves the wider;

With wickedness a sider,

More venom than a spider.

In sin he’s a considerer,

A make-bate and divider;

Blind reason is his guider,

The devil is his rider.

XLVII.

UPON THE DISOBEDIENT CHILD.

Children become, while little, our delights!

When they grow bigger, they begin to fright’s.

Their sinful nature prompts them to rebel, And to delight in paths that lead to hell.

Their parents’ love and care they overlook, As if relation had them quite forsook.

They take the counsels of the wanton’s, rather Than the most grave instructions of a father.

They reckon parents ought to do for them, Though they the fifth commandment do contemn; They snap and snarl if parents them control, Though but in things most hurtful to the soul.

They reckon they are masters, and that we Who parents are, should to them subject be!

If parents fain would have a hand in choosing, The children have a heart will in refusing.

They’ll by wrong doings, under parents gather, And say it is no sin to rob a father.

They’ll jostle parents out of place and power, They’ll make themselves the head, and them devour.

How many children, by becoming head,

Have brought their parents to a piece of bread!

Thus they who, at the first, were parents joy, Turn that to bitterness, themselves destroy.

Thy mother, long before she brought thee forth, Took care thou shouldst want neither food nor cloth.

Thy father glad was at his very heart,

Had he to thee a portion to impart.

Comfort they promised themselves in thee, But thou, it seems, to them a grief wilt be.

How oft, how willingly brake they their sleep, If thou, their bantling, didst but winch or weep.

Their love to thee was such they could have giv’n, That thou mightst live, almost their part of heav’n.

But now, behold how they rewarded are!

For their indulgent love and tender care; All is forgot, this love he doth despise.

They brought this bird up to pick out their eyes.

XLVIII.

UPON A SHEET OF WHITE PAPER.

This subject is unto the foulest pen,

Or fairest handled by the sons of men.

‘Twill also show what is upon it writ,

Be it wisely, or nonsense for want of wit, Each blot and blur it also will expose

To thy next readers, be they friends or foes.

Comparison.

Some souls are like unto this blank or sheet, Though not in whiteness. The next man they meet, If wise or fool, debauched or deluder,

Or what you will, the dangerous intruder May write thereon, to cause that man to err In doctrine or in life, with blot and blur.

Nor will that soul conceal from who observes, But show how foul it is, wherein it swerves.

A reading man may know who was the writer, And, by the hellish nonsense, the inditer.

XLIX.

UPON FIRE.

Who falls into the fire shall burn with heat; While those remote scorn from it to retreat.

Yea, while those in it, cry out, O! I burn, Some farther off those cries to laughter turn.

Comparison.

While some tormented are in hell for sin; On earth some greatly do delight therein.

Yea, while some make it echo with their cry, Others count it a fable and a lie.[38]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Bunyan’s poem in the Holy War.

[2] On the leaf following the title to One Thing is Needful, &c., by John Bunyan, 1688. A rare little 32mo, published by the author, in possession of the Editor.

[3] At the end of Grace Abounding, the sixth edition, and also in The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate, by Bunyan, 1688.

[4] Advertised in the eighth edition of Solomon’s Temple Spiritualized.

[5] In Youth Directed and Instructed—a curious little book for children.

[6] Square 24mo., by Bennet, Gurney, and others, without date.

[7] Sturt engraved the Book of Common Prayer; some French artists elegantly etched two of their devotional books; and Pyne engraved the texts of Horace and Virgil with beautiful vignettes.

[8] Altered to ‘huge’ in the Emblems, 1724.

[9] A familiar phrase, denoting persons who have been always frivolous and childish, or those who have passed into second childhood. ‘On the shelf’ is a common saying of ladies when they are too old to get married.—Ed.

[10] The name of a bird that mimics gestures.—Ed.

[11] Indelible, as when raw material is dyed before it is wove, every grain receives the dye.—Ed.

[12] For this use of the word ‘handle,’ see Jeremiah 2:8. ‘They that handle the law.’—Ed.

[13] This word, with pismire and emmet, has become obsolete. ‘Ant’

is the term now universally used.—Ed.

[14] See Psalm 84:3; Leviticus 11:16; Numbers 20.

[15] A machine used in the manufacture of cloth, on which it is stretched.—Ed.

[16] Spiders being venomous was a vulgar error, universally believed, until modern discoveries have proved the contrary, excepting a few foreign species.—Ed.

[17] This is a scriptural idea of the inhabitants of heaven.

Revelation 11:8, saints ‘small and great.’ Matthew 19:28: ‘The Son of man on his throne, and the twelve apostles on their thrones.’

Revelation 4:10: ‘Four and twenty elders on their thrones.’

Revelation 5:11: ‘An innumerable company of worshippers.’—Ed.

[18] In an ancient battledore or horn-book, and in one of Henry VIII’s primers, both in the editor’s possession, this sentence is translated—‘And let us not be led into temptation.’—Ed.

[19] When divine light first dawns upon the soul, and reveals sin, O how difficult is it to conclude that sin is pardoned, and the sinner blest!—Ed.

[20] The swallow is remarkably swift in flight; ‘their note is a slight twittering, which they seldom if ever exert but upon the wing.’—Goldsmith’s Natural History.—Ed.

[21] ‘Be in print’; a proverbial expression, to show order and regularity; like type in print.—Ed.

[22] ‘Ley’; barren or fallow, uncultivated, generally spelt lea.—Ed.

[23] This riddle is solved in the fourth line following. The light of the fear and love of God begins in the middle of our bodily frame, with the heart. Bunyan’s love of religious riddles is seen in the second part of the Pilgrimage, when Christian is resting at the house of Gaius.—Ed.

[24] Convictions of sin make the soul turn from sin.—Ed.

[25] This character is admirably drawn in the second part of the Pilgrim’s Progress—Mr. Brisk, a suitor to Mercy.—Ed.

[26] Preterite of the verb ‘to save,’ from the Saxon agan, to be held or bound by moral obligation.—Imperial Dictionary.—Ed.

[27] What folly, nay, madness, for man to pretend to make God of a little flour, or to rely for forgiveness of sin on a wafer, a bit of bread, or a little wine or water. How degraded is he that pretends to believe such palpable absurdities.—Ed.

[28] This is one of Bunyan’s keen, shrewd, home thrusts. Clothes professedly made to hide what they studiously display!!—Ed.

[29] Possessed me with, or has given me possession of.—Ed.

[30] Man’s sinfulness, by nature and practice, justly, but awfully described.—Mason.

[31] See Proverbs 30:20, and Pilgrim’s Progress. There is also a very striking allusion to the subject of this emblem, in Bunyan’s Light in Darkness.

[32] He who, in riper years, seeks happiness in sensual gratification, is a child in understanding: he only changes his toys.—Ed.

[33] ‘To the one, a savour of death unto death; and to the other, a savour of life unto life’ (2 Cor 2:16).

[34] ‘Trapan’ is the Saxon verb to ensnare, modernized to trap.—Ed.

[35] How agonizing will be the cry of the lost soul—‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved’ (Jer 8:20).—Ed.

Upon the brittle thread of life hang everlasting things.—Mason.

[36] When the Word of God dwells in us richly in all wisdom, then will the peace of God rule in our hearts, and we shall be sweetly inclined to every good thought, word, and work.—Ed.

[37] If the crawling snail finds food, wherefore do ye doubt, O!

ye of little faith.—Ed.

[38] Fools make a mock at sin. The scorner occupies a proud, an elevated seat, which will sink under him, and crush him down to everlasting destruction. The threatenings and promises of God stand sure for ever.—Ed

THE STRUGGLER;

CONTAINING

THE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER IN WHICH MR. BUNYAN’S BOOKS WERE PUBLISHED, AND THE NUMBER OF EDITIONS THEY PASSED THROUGH DURING HIS LIFE.

THIRTY REASONS WHY CHRISTIAN PEOPLE SHOULD PROMOTE THEIR CIRCULATION, AND THE STRUGGLER FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THESE LABOURS.—PUBLISHED

IN 1691.

BY CHARLES DOE, ONE OF MR. BUNYAN’S PERSONAL FRIENDS.

A CATALOGUE-TABLE OF MR. BUNYAN’S BOOKS.

AND

THEIR SUCCESSION IN PUBLISHING, MOST ACCORDING TO HIS OWN RECKONING.

Note.—Those that are in Italic letter are them that compose the first folio: And the rest are intended, when time serves, for a second folio.[1]

1. Gospel truths opened, 1656

2. A vindication of that [sm. 4to] 1657

3. Sighs from Hell (9 Impressions), [1650]

4. The 2 Covenants Law and Grace

5. I will pray with the Spirit, 1663

6. A map of salvation, &c., [A broadside]

7. The four last things (3 Impressions), 8. Mount Ebal and Gerizim,

9. Prison Meditations,

10. The Holy City, &c., 1665

11. The Resurrection, &c., 1665

12. Grace Abounding (6 Impressions), [1666]

13. Justification by Jesus Christ, [sm. 4to] 1671

14. Confession of Faith, &c., 1672

15. Difference in Judgment, &c., 1673

16. Peaceable principles, &c., 1674

17. Election and Reprobation, &c., [sm. 4to] [No date]

18. Light for them in Darkness,

19. Christian Behaviour (4 Impressions), 20. Instructions for the Ignorant, 1675

21. Saved by Grace,

22. The Strait-Gate, 1676

23. The Pilgrim’s Progress (12 Impressions), [1678]

24. The Fear of God, 1679

25. Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ (4 Impressions) 26. The Holy War (3 Impressions) 1682

27. The Barren Fig Tree,

28. The Greatness of the Soul, &c., [1683]

29. A case of Conscience of prayer, [sm. 4to] [1683]

30. Advice to Sufferers, 1684

31. The 2d pt. Pilgrim’s Progress (3 Impressions), [1684]

32. Life and Death of Mr. Badman,[2] [1680]

33. Holy Life the beauty of Christianity, 34. The Pharisee and Publican, 1685

35. A caution against Sin, [a sheet] [1684]

36. Meditations on 74 things,

37. The first-day Sabbath, 1685

38. The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, 1688

39. Jesus Christ an advocate, 1688

40. The House of God, 1688

41. The Water of Life, 1688

42. Solomon’s Temple Spiritualized, [1688]

43. The Excell. of a broken heart, [1689]

44. His last Sermon at London, 1688

Twelve Manuscripts part of the first folio 1692

45. Exposit. on 10 first chap. of Genesis, 46. Justification by Imputed Righteousness, 47. Paul’s departure and crown,

48. Of the Trinity and a Christian,

49. Of the Law and a Christian,

50. Israel’s Hope encouraged,

51. Desires of the righteous granted,

52. The unsearchable riches of Christ,

53. Christ Compleat Saviour in’s Interest, 54. Saint’s Knowledge of Christ’s love,

55. House of the Forest of Lebanon,

56. A description of Antichirst,

Four Manuscripts yet unprinted.

57. A Christian Dialogue.[3]

58. The Heavenly Footman.[4]

59. A Pocket Concordance.[3]

60. An Account of his Imprisonment.[5]

Here’s sixty pieces of his labours, and he was sixty years of age.

He was born at Elstow, nigh Bedford, about 1628. And about 1652

was, by irresistible grace, converted: and in 1660 he had preached five years, and then, for that, was thrown into Bedford Gaol; and in 1671 was called to the pastoral office at Bedford, being the 11th of his twelve years and an half’s imprisonment; and died at London, Aug. 31, 1688.

[Where the date is in brackets it is supplied from original