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

Two Hell-bred objections answered.

Object. If it be so, then one need not care what they do; they may sin and sin again, seeing Christ hath made satisfaction. [The first objection].

Answ. If I were to point out one that was under the power of the devil, and going post-haste to Hell, for my life I would look no farther for such a man than to him that would make such a use as this of the grace of God. What, because Christ is a Saviour, thou wilt be a sinner! because His grace abounds, therefore thou wilt abound in sin! O wicked wretch! rake Hell all over, and surely I think thy fellow will scarce be found! And let me tell thee this before I leave thee—as God’s covenant with Christ for His children, which are of faith, stands sure, immutable, unrevocable, and unchangeable, so also hath God taken such a course with thee, that unless thou canst make God forswear Himself, it is impossible that thou shouldst go to Heaven, dying in that condition—“They tempted Me, proved Me,” and turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, “so I sware,”

mark that, “so I sware,” and that in My wrath, too, that they should never enter into My rest. Compare Hebrews 3:9-11, with 1

Corinthians 10:5-10. No, saith God; if Christ will not serve their turns, but they must have their sins too, take them, Devil; if Heaven will not satisfy them, take them, Hell; devour them, Hell; scald them, fry them, burn them, Hell! God hath more places than one to put sinners into. If they do not like Heaven, He will fit them with Hell; if they do not like Christ, they shall be forced to have the devil. Therefore we must and will tell of the truth of the nature of the Covenant of Grace of God to His poor saints for their encouragement and for their comfort, who would be glad to leap at Christ upon any terms; yet therewith, we can tell how, through grace, to tell the hogs and sons of this world what a hog-sty there is prepared for them, even such an one that God hath prepared to put the devil and his angels into, is fitly prepared for them (Matt 25:41).

Object. But if Christ hath given God a full and complete satisfaction, then though I do go on in sin, I need not fear, seeing God hath already been satisfied. [The second objection]. It will be injustice in God to punish for those sins for which He is already satisfied for by Christ.

Answ. Rebel, rebel, there are some in Christ and some out of Him.

[1]. They that are in Him have their sins forgiven, and they themselves made new creatures, and have the Spirit of the Son, which is a holy, living, self-denying Spirit. And they that are thus in Jesus Christ are so far off from delighting in sin, that sin is the greatest thing that troubleth them; and O how willing would they be rid of the very thoughts of it (Psa 119:113). It is the grief of their souls, when they are in a right frame of spirit, that they can live no more to the honour and glory of God than they do; and in all their prayers to God, the breathings of their souls are as much sanctifying grace as pardoning grace, that they might live a holy life. They would as willing live holy here as they would be happy in the world to come; they would as willingly be cleansed from the filth of sin as to have the guilt of it taken away; they would as willingly glorify God here as they would be glorified by Him hereafter (Phil 3:6-22). [2]. But there are some that are out of Christ, being under the Law; and as for all those, let them be civil or profane, they are such as God accounts wicked; and I say, as for those, if all the angels in Heaven can drag them before the judgment-seat of Christ, they shall be brought before it to answer for all their ungodly deeds; and being condemned for them, if all the fire in Hell will burn them, they shall be burned there, if they die in that condition (Jude 15). And, therefore, if you love your souls, do not give way to such a wicked spirit. “Let no man deceive you with” such “vain words,” as to think, because Christ hath made satisfaction to God for sin, therefore you may live in your sins. O no, God forbid that any should think so, “for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience” (Eph 5:6).

Thus have I, reader, given thee a brief discourse touching the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace, also of the nature of the one, together with the nature of the other. I have also in this discourse endeavoured to show you the condition of them that are under the Law, how sad it is, both from the nature of the covenant they are under, and also by the carriage of God unto them by that covenant. And now, because I would bring all into as little a compass as I can, I shall begin with the use and application of the whole in as brief a way as I can, desiring the Lord to bless it to thee.

[USE AND APPLICATION].

A use of examination about the old covenant.

First. And, first of all, let us here begin to examine a little touching the covenant you stand before God in, whether it be the Covenant of Works or the Covenant of Grace; [The first use is a use of examination]. and for the right doing of this, I shall lay down this proposition—namely, that all men naturally come into the world under the first of these, which is called the old covenant, or the Covenant of Works, which is the Law; “And were all by nature the children of wrath, even as others”; which they could not be, had they not been under the law; for there are none that are under the other covenant that are still the children of wrath, but the children of faith, the children of the promise, the accepted children, the children not of the bond-woman, but of the free (Gal 4:28-31).

[Quest.] Now here lieth the question. Which of these two covenants art thou under, soul?

Answ. I hope I am under the Covenant of Grace.

Quest. But what ground hast thou to think that thou art under that blessed covenant, and not rather under the Covenant of Works, that strict, that soul-damning covenant?

Answ. What ground? Why, I hope I am.

Quest. But what ground hast thou for this thy hope? for a hope without a ground is like a castle built in the air, that will never be able to do thee any good, but will prove like unto that spoken of in Job 8, “Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be” like “a spider’s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast,” as thou wouldst thy hope, it is like, “but it shall not endure” (Job 8:13-15).

Answ. My hope is grounded upon the promises; what else should it be grounded upon?

Reply. Indeed, to build my hope upon Christ Jesus, upon God in Christ, through the promise, and to have this hope rightly, by the shedding abroad of the love of God in the heart, it is a right-grounded hope (Rom 5:1-7).

Quest. But what promises in the Scripture do you find your hope built upon? and how do you know whether you do build your hope upon the promises in the Gospel, the promises of the new covenant, and not rather on the promises of the old covenant, for there are promises in that as well as in the other?

Answ. I hope that if I do well I shall be accepted; because God hath said I shall (Gen 4:7).

Reply. O soul, if thy hope be grounded there, thy hope is not grounded upon the Gospel promises, or the new covenant, but verily upon the old; for these words were spoken to Cain, a son of the old covenant; and they themselves are the tenor and scope of that; for that runs thus: “Do this, and thou shalt live. The man that doth these things shall live by them. If thou do well, thou shalt be accepted” (Lev 18:5; Eze 20:11; Rom 10:5; Gal 3:12; Gen 4:7).

Reply. Why, truly, if a man’s doing well, and living well, and his striving to serve God as well as he can, will not help him to Christ, I do not know what will; I am sure sinning against God will not.

Quest. Did you never read that Scripture which saith, “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness”? (Rom 9:30-32).

Object. But doth not the Scripture say, “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life”?

(Rev 22:14).

Answ. There is first, therefore, to be inquired into, whether to keep His commandments be to strive to keep the Law as it is a Covenant of Works, or whether it be meant of the great commandments of the New Testament which are cited in 1 John 3:22,23—“And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” But what do you mean, John? Do you mean the covenant of the Law, or the covenant to the Gospel? Why, “this is His commandment,” saith he, “That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another,” as the fruits of this faith, “as He gave us commandment.”

If it be of the old covenant, as a Covenant of Works, then the Gospel is but a lost thing. If it were of works, then no more of grace; therefore it is not the old covenant, as the old covenant.

Quest. But what do you mean by these words—the old covenant as the old covenant? Explain your meaning.

Answ. My meaning is, that the Law is not to be looked upon for life, so as it was handed out from Mount Sinai, if ever thou wouldst indeed be saved; though after thou hast faith in Christ, thou mayest and must solace thyself in it, and take pleasure therein, to express thy love to Him who hath already saved thee by His own blood, without thy obedience to the law, either from Sinai or elsewhere.

Quest. Do you think that I do mean that my righteousness will save me without Christ? If so, you mistake me, for I think not so; but this I say, I will labour to do what I can; and what I cannot do, Christ will do for me.

Answ. Ah, poor soul, this is the wrong way too; for this