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

5. But we will follow thee a little in the way of thy heart. Thou sayest thou desirest, and desirest grace, yea, hast been a thousand times upon thy knees before God for more grace, and yet thou canst not attain. I answer,

(1.) It may be the grace which thou prayest for, is worthy thy being upon thy knees yet a thousand times more. We find, that usually they that go to king’s courts for preferment, are there at great expenses; yea, and wait a great while, even until they have spent their whole estates, and worn out their patience too. Yet they at last prevail, and the thing desired comes. Yea, and when it is come, it sets them up anew, and makes them better men—though they did spend all that they had to obtain it—than ever they were before.

Wait, therefore, wait, I say, on the Lord (Psa 27:14). Wait therefore with David, wait patiently; bid thy soul cheer up, and wait (Psa 37:7, 62:5). ‘Blessed are all they that wait for him’ (Isa 30:18).

(2.) Thou must consider, that great grace is reserved for great service; thou desirest abundance of grace, thou dost well, and thou shalt have what shall qualify and fit thee for the service that God has for thee to do for him, and for his name in the world. The apostles themselves were to stay for great grace until the time of their work was come (Acts 1:4-8, 4:33). I will not allot thy service, but assure thyself, when thy desire cometh, thou wilt have occasion for it; new work, new trials, new sufferings, or something that will call for the power and virtue of all the grace thou shalt have to keep thy spirit even, and thy feet from slipping, while thou art exercised in new engagements. Assure thyself, thy God will not give thee straw, but he will expect brick: ‘For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more’ (Luke 12:48).

Wherefore, as thou art busy in desiring more grace, be also desirous that wisdom to manage it with faithfulness may also be granted unto thee. Thou wilt say, Grace, if I had it, will do all this for me.

It will, and will not. It will, if thou watch and be sober; it will not, if thou be foolish and remiss. Men of great grace may grow consumptive in grace, and idleness may turn him that wears a plush jacket into rags.[20] David was once a man of great grace, but his sin made the grace which he had to shrink up, and dwindle away, as to make him cry out, O! ‘take not thy holy spirit’ utterly ‘from me’ (Psa 51:11, 119:8). Or, perhaps God withholds what thou wouldest have, that it may be the more prized by thee when it comes: ‘Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life’ (Prov 13:12).

6. Lastly, but dost thou think that thy more grace will exempt thee from temptations? Alas! the more grace, as was hinted, the greater trials. Thou must be, for all that, like the ship of which thou readest, sometimes high, sometimes low; sometimes steady, sometimes staggering; sometimes in, and sometimes even at the end of thy very wits. For ‘so he brings us to our desired haven’ (Psa 107:23-30).

Yet grace is the gold and preciousness of the righteous man: yea, and herein appears the uprightness of his soul, in that though all these things attend the grace of God in him, yet he chooseth grace here above all, for that it makes him the more like God and his Christ, and for that it seasons his heart best to his own content; and also for that it capacitates him to glorify God in the world.

[THE CONCLUSION.]

Is it so? Is this the sum of all, namely, That ‘the fear of the wicked it shall come upon him,’ and that ‘the desire of the righteous shall be granted?’ Then this shows us what is determined concerning both. Concerning the wicked, that all his hopes shall not bring him to heaven; and concerning the righteous, that all his fears shall not bring him to hell. But what a sad thing is it for one to be a wicked man! Nothing can help him, his wickedness is too strong for him: ‘His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins’ (Prov 5:22). He may twist and twine, and seek to work himself from under the sentence passed upon him; but all will do him no pleasure: ‘the wicked is driven away in his wickedness. But the righteous hath hope in his death’ (Prov 14:32). Loth he is to be righteous now; and as loth he will be to be found in his sins at the dreadful day of doom. But so it must be: ‘Upon the wicked God shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible’ burning ‘tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup’ (Psa 11:6).

‘Woe unto the wicked’ therefore: ‘it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him’ (Isa 3:10). The just God will recompense both the righteous and the wicked, even according to their works. And yet for all this the wicked will not hear! When I read God’s Word, and see how the wicked follow their sins, yea, dance in the ways of their own destruction, it is astonishing to me. Their actions declare them, though not Atheists in principle, yet such in practice.[21] What do all their acts declare, but this, that they either know not God, or fear not what he can do unto them? But, O! how will they change their note, when they see what will become of them! How wan will they look! Yea, the hair of their heads will stand on end for fear; for their fear is their portion; nor can their fears, nor their prayers, nor their entreaties, nor their wishes, nor their repentings, help them in this day. And thus have I showed you what are the ‘desires of the righteous,’ and that the ‘fear of the wicked shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.’

FOOTNOTES:

[1] How blessed are those whose light shines so clearly as to be known and read of all men. A brand plucked from the burning bears the marks of fire, but is not consuming.—Ed.

[2] ‘A very Abraham,’ or an Abraham cove. Cant terms formerly applied to poor silly half-naked men, or to sturdy beggars. Thus the fraternity of Vacabondes, 1575, describes them:—‘An Abraham man is he that walketh bare-armed or bare-legged, and fayneth hymselfe mad, and caryeth a packe of wool, or a stycke with baken on it, or suche lyke toy, and nameth poore Tom.’ Shakespeare alludes to them under the name of Bedlam Beggars.—Ed.

[3] To possess with or of; to cause to possess or to be possessed with—

‘At the port (Lord) he give her to thy hand, And by the way possesse thee what she is.’

Troylus and Cressida, act 4, s. 4.

__________ ‘thou hast given me to possess Life in myself for ever.’

Milton’s Paradise Lost, book iii, 243.

[4] Establishes our opinions, or fixes them in us. ‘Our young men being principled by these new philosophers.’—Cudworth.

‘A Parliament so principled will sink All ancient schools of empire in disgrace.’

Dr. Young.—Ed.

[5] Where is the man, except he be a willful perverter of Divine truth, who can charge the doctrines of grace with licentiousness?

All hope of election or predestination arises from conformity to the image of Christ. Vain is hope except it is founded upon redemption from the curse, to walk in newness and holiness of life; equally vain is a hope founded on the wicked assumption of man to the power of forgiveness of sin.—Ed.

[6] This is admirably illustrated by the Interpreter in the Pilgrim’s Progress. He shows Christian a fire burning against the wall, and one standing by it, always casting much water upon it to quench it, yet did the fire burn higher and hotter. Christian wonders until he is taken behind the wall, and sees Christ secretly pouring the oil of grace into the fire. Before Bunyan had been behind the wall, he was scared by the father of lies, who suggested to him—‘You are very hot for mercy, but I will cool you, though I be seven years in chilling your heart.’ Grace Abounding, No. 118.—Ed.

[7] As we escape a thousand bodily dangers unseen and unknown to us in time, so, doubtless, acts of grace pass through the soul without our being sensible of them, although they may be the means of saving us from severe tribulations. How wondrous will be the review of our lives when we shall see face to face, and know all things.—Ed.

[8] However disgusting the appearance of a toad may be, this is not the first time that Bunyan considered sin as rendering its slave more loathsome even than a toad. ‘Now I blessed,’ said he, ‘the condition of the dog and the toad, and counted the state of everything that God had made far better than this state of mine.’

Grace Abounding, No. 104.—Ed.

[9] ‘This inward conflict between opposing principles constitutes the very distinction between the regenerate and the unregenerate, and forms part of the recorded experience of the most advanced, and elevated, and spiritually-minded believers. Freedom from this conflict is not to be expected here by any child of God.’—Dr.

Wardlaw.

[10] This is one of the very few instances, if not the only one, in which Bunyan’s attachment to believers’ baptism appears, except when writing expressly upon the subject. Of all men, he was the most eminent for nonsectarian feelings, arising from his soul being so baptized into Christ as to leave no room for controversy upon ceremonial observances. I feel bound to confirm the truth of his observation, for if ever I enjoyed a heaven upon earth, it was on the Lord’s day morning, when, publicly professing my faith in the Redeemer, I was solemnly baptized. Nor have I ever witnessed this ceremony since without the strongest emotions of love, and joy, and hope.—Ed.

[11] Church fellowship, rightly managed, abounds with blessings, when the bishops or elders and the people are united in gospel bonds to promote each other’s peace and holy enjoyments—their great happiness being to extend the benign influence of the Redeemer’s kingdom. Let Watchful be the porter; Discretion admit the members; Prudence take the oversight; Piety conduct the worship; and Charity endear the members to each other, and it is a house ‘beautiful.’

‘Christians are like the several flowers in a garden; they have upon each of them the dew of heaven, which, being shaken, they let fall at each other’s roots, and are jointly nourished and nourishers of each other.’ Bunyan’s Pilgrim and Christian Behaviour.—Ed.

[12] Blessed be God the sword is for the present sheathed. Marvellous was the indomitable courage of the martyrs under papacy, and, in a later day, of the Scottish Covenanters. They saw their friends and ministers tortured and murdered—the pain of the boots must have been inconceivable—the bones of their legs were crushed between pieces of iron, and, even when death had released the victim, savage barbarity was practised upon his mutilated remains; the head and hands were cut off and exhibited upon a pike, the hands fixed