The Riches of Bunyan Part 4

that is the man whose sins are still his own, and upon whom the wrath of G.o.d abideth; for the ease and peace of such, though it keep them far from fear, is but like to that of the secure thief that is ignorant that the constable standcth at the door: the first sight of an officer makes his peace to give up the ghost. Oh, how many thousands that can now glory that they were never troubled for sin against G.o.d--I say, how many be there that G.o.d will trouble worse than he troubled cursed Achan, because their peace, though false and of the devil, was rather chosen by them than peace by Jesus Christ, than peace with G.o.d by the blood of his cross.

Awake, careless sinners, awake, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. Content not yourselves either with sin or righteousness, if you be dest.i.tute of Jesus Christ; but CRY, CRY, Oh cry to G.o.d for light to see your condition by. Light is in the word of G.o.d, for therein is the righteousness of G.o.d revealed; cry therefore for light to see this righteousness by: it is a righteousness of Christ's finishing, of G.o.d's accepting, and that which alone can save the soul from the stroke of eternal justice.

THE CHILD AND THE BIRD.

"My little bird, how canst thou sit And sing amidst so many thorns?

Let me but hold vipon thee get, My love with honor thee adorns.

Thou art at present little worth, Five farthings none will give for thee, But prithee, little bird, come forth, Thou of more value art to me.

"'Tis true it is sunshine to-day, To-morrow birds will have a storm; My pretty one, come thou away.

My bosom then shall keep thee warm.

Thou subject art to cold o' nights, When darkness is thy covering; At day thy danger's great by kites; How canst thou then sit there and sing?

"Thy food is scarce and scanty too, 'Tis worms and trash that thou dost eat Thy present state I pity do, Come, I'll provide thee better meat.

I'll feed thee with white bread and milk, And sugar-plums, if them thou crave; I'll cover thee with finest silk, That from the cold I may thee save.

"My father's palace shall be thine, Yea, in it thou shalt sit and sing; My little bird, if thou'lt be mine, The whole year round shall be thy spring.

I'll teach thee all the notes at court, Unthought-of music thou shalt play, And all that thither do resort Shall praise thee for it every day.

"I'll keep thee safe from cat and cur, No manner o' harm shall come to thee; Yea, I will be thy succorer, My bosom shall thy cabin be."

But lo, behold, the bird is gone!

These charmings would not make her yield; The child's left at the bush alone, The bird flies yonder o'er the field.

The child of Christ an emblem is; The bird to sinners I compare; The thorns are like those sins of theirs, Which do surround them everywhere.

Her songs, her food, her sunshine day, Are emblems of those foolish toys Which to destruction lead the way-- The fruit of worldly, empty joys.

The arguments this child doth choose To draw to him a bird thus wild, Shows Christ familiar speech doth use, To make the sinner reconciled.

The bird, in that she takes her wing To speed her from him after all, Shows us vain man loves any thing Much better than the heavenly call.

THE SINNER WARNED.

Thy bed, when thou liest down in it, preacheth to thee thy grave; thy sleep, thy death; and thy rising in the morning, thy resurrection to judgment.

Wouldst thou know, sinner, what thou art? look up to the cross, and behold a weeping, bleeding, dying Jesus; nothing could do but that, nothing could save thee but his blood: angels could not, saints could not, G.o.d could not, because he could not lie, because he could not deny himself.

What a thing is sin, that it should sink all that bear its burden; yea, it sunk the Son of G.o.d himself into death and the grave, and had also sunk him into h.e.l.l-fire for ever, had he not teen the Son of G.o.d, had he not been able to take it on his hack and bear it away.

O this Lamh of G.o.d! Sinners were going to h.e.l.l; Christ was the delight of his Father, and had a whole heaven to himself; hut that did not content him, heaven could not hold him, he must come into the world to save sinners.

Aye, and had he not come thy sins had sunk thee, thy sins had provoked the wrath of G.o.d against thee to thy destruction for ever.

There is no man hut is a sinner; there is no sin hut would d.a.m.n an angel, should G.o.d lay it to his charge.

Sinner, the doctrine of Christ crucified cries therefore aloud unto thee, that sin has made thy condition dreadful. See yourselves, your sins, and consequently the condition that your souls are in by the death and blood of Christ Christ's death gives us the most clear discovery of the dreadful nature of our sins.

I say again, if sin he so dreadful a thing as to break the heart of the Son of G.o.d, how shall a poor, wretched, impenitent, d.a.m.ned sinner wrestle with the wrath of G.o.d?

Awake, sinners; you are lost, you are undone, you perish, you are d.a.m.ned; h.e.l.l-fire is your portion for ever, if you abide in your sins, and be found without a Saviour in the dreadful day of judgment.

Sinner, doth not all this discourse make thy heart twitter after the mercy that is with G.o.d, and after the way that is made by this plenteous redemption thereto? Methinks it should; yea, thou couldest not do otherwise, didst thou but see thy condition. Look behind thee, take a view of the path thou hast trodden these many years.

Dost thou think that the way that thou art in will lead thee to the strait gate, sinner? Ponder the path of thy feet with the greatest seriousness; thy life lies upon it; what thinkest thou? But make no answer till in the night, till thou art in the night-watches; commune with thine own heart upon thy hed, and there say what thou thinkest of whither thou art going.

Oh that thou wert serious! Is not it a thing to be lamented, that madness and folly should be in thy heart while thou livest, and after that to go to the dead; when so much life stands before thee, and light to see the way to it? Surely men void of grace and possessed of carnal minds must either think that sin is nothing, that h.e.l.l is easy, and that eternity is short; or else that whatever G.o.d has said about the punishing of sinners, he will never do as he has said; or that there is no sin, no G.o.d, no heaven, no h.e.l.l, and so no good or bad hereafter; or else they could not live as they do.

But perhaps thou presumest upon it, and sayest, I shall have peace, though I live so sinful a life. Sinner, if this wicked thought be in thy heart, tell me again, dost thou thus think in earnest? Canst thou imagine thou shalt at the day of account outface G.o.d, or make him believe thou wast what thou wast not; or that when the gate is shut up in wrath, he will at thy pleasure and to the reversing of his own counsel, open it again to thee? Why shall thy deceived heart turn thee aside, that thou canst not deliver thy soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Friend, because it is a dangerous thing to be walking towards the place of darkness and anguish, and because notwithstanding, it is the journey that most of the poor souls in the world are taking, I have thought it my duty for preventing thee, to tell thee what sad success those souls have had that have persevered therein. Why, friend, it may be--nay, twenty to one, thou hast had thy back to heaven and thy face towards h.e.l.l ever since thou didst come into the world. Why, I beseech thee, put a little stop to thy earnest race, and take a view of what entertainment thou art like to have, if thou do in deed and in truth persist in thy course. "Thy ways lead down to death, and thy steps to h.e.l.l." It may he, indeed, the path is pleasant to the flesh, but the end thereof will he bitter to thy soul. Hark! dost thou not hear the bitter cries of them that are newly gone before thee, saying, "Let him dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame!"

Dost thou not hear them say, "Send one from the dead, to prevent my father, my brother, my father's house, from coming to this place of torment!" Shall not these mournful groans pierce thy flinty heart?

Wilt thou stop thine ears and shut thine eyes? And wilt thou NOT regard? Take warning, and stop thy journey before it be too late.

Wilt thou he like the silly fly, that is not quiet unless she be either entangled in the spider's web or burnt in the candle? O sinner, sinner, there are better things than h.e.l.l to be had! There is heaven, there is G.o.d, there is Christ, there is communion with an innumerable a.s.sembly of saints and angels!

The poor, carnal, ignorant world miss of heaven, even because they love their sins and cannot part with them John 3:9, 20.

The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they stop their ears against convictions, and refuse to come when G.o.d calls. Prov. 1: 24-29.

The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because the G.o.d of this world hath blinded their eyes, that they can neither see the evil and d.a.m.nable state they are in at present, nor the way to get out of it; neither do they see the beauty of Jesus Christ, nor how willing he is to save poor sinners. 2 Cor. 4: 2, 3.

The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they defer coming to Christ until the time of G.o.d's patience and grace is over. Some indeed are resolved never to come; but some again say, "We will come hereafter;" and so it comes to pa.s.s, that because G.o.d called and they did not hear, so "they shall cry and I will not hear," saith the Lord. Zech. 7: 11-13.

The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they have false apprehensions of G.o.d's mercy. They say in their hearts, "We shall have peace, though we walk in the imagination of our heart." Deut.

29: 19-21.

The poor ignorant world miss of heaven, because they make light of the gospel that offers mercy to them freely, and because they lean upon their own good meanings and thinkings and doings. Matt. 22: 1-5; Rom. 9: 30, 31.

The poor carnal world miss of heaven, because by unbelief, which reigns in them, they are kept for ever from being clothed with Christ's righteousness, and from washing in his blood, without which there is no remission of sin nor justification.

Blush, sinner, blush! Ah, that thou hadst grace to blush.

My first word shall be to the openly profane. Poor sinner, thou readest that many that expect heaven will go without heaven. What sayest thou to this, poor sinner? If judgment begins at the house of G.o.d, what will be the end of them that obey not the gospel of G.o.d?

This is Peter's question: canst thou answer it, sinner? Yea, I say again, if judgment must begin at them, will it not make thee think, What shall become of me? And I add, when thou shalt see the stars of heaven tumble down to h.e.l.l, canst thou think that such a muck-heap of sin as thou art shall be lifted up to heaven? Peter asks thee another question: "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the unG.o.dly and the sinner appear?" Canst thou answer this question, sinner? Stand among the righteous thou mayst not: "The unG.o.dly shall not stand in the judgment." Stand among the wicked thou then wilt not dare to do: where wilt thou appear, sinner? To stand among the hypocrites will avail thee nothing: "The hypocrite shall not come before him," that is, with acceptance, "but shall perish."

Because it concerns thee much, let me over with it again. When thou shalt see less sinners than thou art bound up by angels in bundles to burn them, where wilt thou appear, sinner? Thou mayst wish thyself another man, but that will not help thee, sinner. Thou mayst wish, "Would I had been converted in time;" but that will not help thee neither. And if, like the wife of Jeroboam, thou shouldst feign thyself to be another, the prophet, the Lord Jesus, would soon find thee out. What wilt thou do, poor sinner? Heavy tidings, heavy tidings will attend thee, except thou repent, poor sinner!

Sluggard, art thou asleep still? art thou resolved to sleep the sleep of death? Will neither tidings from heaven nor h.e.l.l awake thee? Wilt thou say still, "Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to sleep?"

O that I was one that was skilful in lamentation, and had but a yearning heart towards thee, how would I pity thee; how would I bemoan thee! Poor soul, lost soul, dying soul, what a hard heart have I that I cannot mourn for thee! If thou shouldst lose but a limb, a child, or a friend, it would not be so much; but, poor man, it is thy soul: if it was to lie in h.e.l.l but for a day, but for a year, nay, ten thousand years, it would in comparison be nothing; but O it is for ever! O this cutting EVER!

Sinner, awake; yea, I say unto thee, awake! Sin lieth at thy door, and G.o.d's axe lieth at thy root, and h.e.l.l-fire is right underneath thee. I say again, awake. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.

Poor sinner, awake: Eternity is coming, and his Son; they are both coming to judge the world: awake; art yet asleep, poor sinner? let me set the trumpet to thine ear once again. The heavens will he shortly on a burning flame; the earth and the works thereof shall be burned up, and then wicked men shall go into perdition: dost thou hear this, sinner?

Hark again: the sweet morsels of sin will then be fled and gone, and the bitter, burning fruits of them only left. What sayst thou now, sinner? canst thou drink h.e.l.l-fire? will the wrath of G.o.d be a pleasant dish to thy taste? This must be thine every day's meat and drink in h.e.l.l, sinner.

I will yet propound to thee G.o.d's ponderous question, and then for this time leave thee: "Can thine heart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee, saith the Lord?" What sayst thou? Wilt thou answer this question now; or wilt thou take time to do it; or wilt thou be desperate and venture all? And let me put this text in thine ear to keep it open, and so the Lord have mercy upon thee: "Upon the wicked shall the Lord rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup." Repent, sinners.

CONSCIENCE.

Conscience hath its place in the soul, where it is as a judge to discern of things good or bad, and judge them accordingly. Romans 2: 14. This conscience is that in which is the law of nature, I Cor.

11: 14, which is able to teach the Gentiles that sin against the law is sin against G.o.d.

Now this conscience, this nature itself, because it can control and chide them for sin who give ear unto it--must it therefore be idolized and made a G.o.d of? O wonderful! that men should make a G.o.d and a Christ of their consciences because they can convince of sin.